Americans are sometimes the most selfish people on this planet. Sure, we do what we can to help those in need. We throw a twenty in the red bucket at the supermarket during the holidays. We go on mission trips with church or community groups. We change the light bulb for our elderly neighbor. What we fail to do, though, is actually care.
Just over one year ago today, the catastrophic Haitian earthquake rocked the small country. To refresh the memory: 316,000 fatalities occurred; 300,000 were injured; and 1,000,000 were made homeless. To put that in perspective, Hurricane Katrina only killed about 1500 people. The worst part about the earthquake, however, was the incredibly poor shape the country was in before the natural disaster. As implausible as this may seem, imagine yourself as a small Haitian child for a second. This earthquake hits, your home has been destroyed, and your parents are missing. This exact thing happened to tens of thousands of Haitian children.
When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, lives and homes were destroyed as well. People volunteered to help with cleanup and recovery as well as donate a specific amount of money. The same efforts were carried out for Haiti. Being blessed with a country like we live in today, we were able to recover from Katrina in about a year. Sure, there are some things that just could not be replaced in a year, but the Gulf Coast was livable. Today, one year after the first tremors occurred, Haiti is still in ruins. The earthquake was reported to have destroyed or damaged nearly 75% of the building structures in Haiti. In one year’s time, a mere 5% of that rubble has been cleared.
Can you imagine living in a tent for one year? We as Americans can hardly stand to sleep in a tent for one night. The worst part is, these people have no clue when help is going to come their way. Oxfam recently released a report on the recovery of the country. Currently, the recovery project is at a standstill due to “indecision on the part of donor countries”. How the hell can there be any indecision on our part? The answer is simple: because we do not care. Americans have it way too easy and sadly, we don’t even realize it.
To be fair, what are we supposed to do? It is nearly impossible to find time in our busy schedules to go to Haiti and clean up some rubble. It is an imposition to adopt a Haitian orphan, although you may be moved to do so. Many of us can’t afford to pay bills let alone send a hundred dollars a month to Haiti. What we can do is humble ourselves. Realize that even in our worst days or situations, we are so much better off than what we could be. We can also write letters to our Congressmen, urging them to make every effort to better fund the relief project in Haiti.
It is time to stop this selfishness that we have become so accustomed to. Can you honestly say that you have thought about Haiti once in the last six months? I sure know that I couldn’t until now. One of my greatest fears is that this country has lost sight of the fact that we are blessed beyond comprehension. Is it too late to change our worldly, self-centered views? I certainly hope not, but it sure isn’t looking too good, is it?
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