Two years ago today, Haiti was devastated by an earthquake. Much of the country looks now as it did then. Though the international community has pitched in, the aid has been far too little and, while not necessarily too late, at the very least not timely. We don’t hear about Haiti anymore because…well, because no one really cares. Haiti’s a poor and politically unstable country of no geopolitical or strategic value. There’s little in the way of natural resources and there’s certainly no oil. We’ve been far too busy getting our war on to notice or care what’s happening not so very far from the Florida Keys.
I find it interesting and disturbing that we can wage two full-scale wars halfway around the world and yet we can’t find it within ourselves to help a neighbor rebuild. We have an opportunity to build goodwill as well as to do the right thing for the right reasons. Yet when’s the last time you read a story about Haiti or saw anything on television? The Cartoon Movement is featuring a graphic status report to mark the anniversary of the earthquake. After perusing it, you might find yourself wondering, as I do, why we believe killing thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghans to be a higher priority than helping thousands of LIVING Haitians put their lives back together. These are our neighbors; if can’t help those in our own backyard, then what claim to humanity do we have left?
Our government has the ability and the resources to pour significant amounts of money, manpower, and materiel into Haiti. What’s lacking is the commitment and the heart…and that leaves me wondering how we can reasonably claim to be a kind and compassionate people.
