The media has had some remarkable footage of the destruction of buildings. Wonderfully, cell phones are working....at least those on satellite. The city's infrastructure is demolished. But these are the tangibles.
Watching pictures of young men walking, swaggering, though the city with machetes makes my flesh crawl. What about the 4000 prisoners who escaped when the prison lost its ability to confine them. How many of them were there because they are sociopaths who care nought for people's feelings, lives, or properties and rights? We as a country have responded far more rapidly than our own country responded to Katrina. In fact, it is encouraging that much of the world has responded.
We are at the mercy of what reporters and producers choose to show us and that is fine with me. I know all I need to know. The Haitians need help. They need money. The charities need money to bring in potable water and supplies. What we all need to do is to stop gaping at the TV and send money to those places like the Red Cross or other non-profits with whom you have experience and trust that what you donate will actually get to them.
The losses of life is devastating to the people there and we do not need to hear the heartbreak and grief in order to donate funds. One picture and description should say it all.
Sympathy must rest in our hearts sufficiently to ask, "What would I want people with resources to do for me if I found myself in that situation?" Now is the time for action. Many have useful skills which are needed there, doctors, nurses, professionals with ability to organize resources. With so many dead, they are trying to photograph the thousands who are being tossed into mass graves, by necessity. For those of us unable to be there to help, I repeat, send money or whatever we are being asked to do and are able to do. It will make the world smaller, friendlier, and make fewer children grow up hating America.
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