Haiti

I feel the need to apologize that I haven't written about Haiti and the disaster there until now.

In my defense I was probably the last person in the world to know about what happened.  On January 12th, Tony was traveling and I was home alone.  My life when he is gone is much different than when he's here.  I rarely read the newspaper or watch the news.  I tend to get caught up on DVR'd shows or DVDs.  So it was a shock to me when Wednesay night as we talked on the phone he mentioned that they were watching about the "earthquake in Haiti."  I had no idea what he was talking about.

I turned on Anderson Cooper 360 and watch over an hour of coverage as I tried to understand and comprehend what had happened.  I have to admit, I know very little about Haiti.  Just the weekend before the quake we were looking for a new location to visit and the Dominican Republic had been on our short list.  But other than knowing where the island was located I knew very little.  I can now say I clearly know where the island is ... I just didn't want to learn it this way.

There have been other earthquakes, other disasters that struck remote cities and countries ... but this is different.  This is a big city, there are literally millions of people affected by this.

Over the past 10 days, I have tuned in each day to get updates on the situation and participated in the 90999 texting to make a donation.  But it really never dawned on me to blog about it until we were watching the telethon last night. 

The show had been on only a few minutes when I turned to Tony and said, "If we were younger, would we adopt one of those children?"  And the answer was, "Yes."  After a few more minutes I realized that if I was alone or single, I would go there, I would do what I could, I wouldn't be able to stop myself. 

Tony and I have on occasion discussed the act of putting ourselves in harm's way.  And for us, the decision was that we had a child that needed us.  So we've traveled to places that are considered "safe," never purposefully putting oursleves in danger.  But now that our son is growing and will be soon leaving for college, I'm sure that conversation will become more serious for us.

So there we sat, on our sofa, watching the pictures and listening to stories, knowing we had to do something, but feeling helpless.  So we gave. And then we decided to put a request on our website asking that others give too.  And that brought me to this ... something more I can do.

The stories are devistating.  The Haitian people have not had easy lives to begin with ... and now this.  They had very little before the earthquake, and even less now.  And yet they are pulling together, supporting each other; trying to make a very uncivilized situation, civilized.  There have been fewer stories of looting in Haiti than in US cities like Miami and LA when court decisions do go "our" way, or hurricanes hit.  For a group of people that have often been considered "unruly" the Haitian people have shown themselves to be so much more than the world thought them to be. They are so strong; strong of heart, strong of spirit.

Where this ends is still TBD.  And I fear it will take not months, but years to help these people and this country get back on their feet. 

We all have so much.  Many of us pay more for a cup of coffee a day than these people had to live on for a day.  And now they have less.  So I'm going to ask something of you, my readers.  Look at your life, your day.  What is the one thing you can do without?  Just for a week.  Is it your daily "latte," or cocktail or dining out?  Maybe you live somewhere that for one week you can ride a bike or walk to work instead of driving.  Give it up. Just for a week.  Then send the money you saved to one of the many charities set-up for the Haitian people in this time of need.  It's would mean so little to each of us, and so much to them.

Oh yeah, and don't forget to tell those around you that you love them.  Disaster can strike anyone, anywhere; large or small.  Don't take the lives and love around you for granted.  This is the perfect example of how those we love can be gone in a moment.

Thank you.