Just when you think things can't get any worse for Haiti, last week's devastating earthquake trumps all previous tragedies. By the time you read this, some of the numbers will be in: actual people killed, actual people left homeless, and actual dollars it will take to re-build part of that country – primarily Port-au-Prince.
A flurry of thoughts rush my mind, despite not knowing all the facts as I write. I cannot address the natural or supernatural issues that doubtless many are mulling over. What arrests my attention in this and other similar debacles is the humanitarian aid that pours in. From countries as diverse as Iceland and Venezuela, the national disaster response teams are being readied. It's almost as if their superficial jurisdictional and philosophical problems get shelved for matters that actually, well, matter.
And these are far, far more significant, indeed: Petty differences pale by comparison when thousands of people have no heat, no house, no food, and no water.
Then there are organizations, such as Samaritan's Purse and World Vision – both Christian in their foundation and practical in their application – are also getting more involved in their services there. I say more involved because, of course, they were already there and have been there, and in many other countries, for some time. I should add that others are involved, including countless missionaries, other aid workers, and teachers on a year-round basis, plus even those from Bow Island that take teams down there regularly. It's only usually when there is a crisis that the media acknowledges them.
But beyond the nations and the organizations, there are individuals that rise to the occasion. Hurricane Katrina (remember her merciless attack on New Orleans a few years ago?) was great example. Though there was supreme bureaucratic bungling from the top down, individuals and individual organizations rallied to re-furbish that city, as they bought, bolstered, and bound up the wounded hearts. There have been clusters of Christians even from the County of Forty Mile that have made the trek south to help out in Louisiana – and I know that will happen again with Haiti.
Our fire disaster of five years ago is a case in point. Sparing my readers all the unnecessary details, the money, gifts, tips, offers, and overall support that poured in within hours (literally) of our own "Haiti" is still hard to comprehend. I still get a rush telling others (only when they ask, of course, as there is still a side of me that wants to try to forget the grief we went through) about the kindness of friends and strangers in Southern Alberta.
Lest you think I am crass in comparing what has happen in Haiti with what happened to us, please spare me. I agree that there is little similarity between no heat, house, food and water – plus the grisly death count – and our setback. We never missed a meal or a drink of water, and had a roof over our head, here and there, ever since. But our grief was a microcosm of their grief.
The link is the good-heartedness of humanity, people, be it at the international, institutional, or individual level. While I am of the conviction that each one of us has issues with a base nature that needs some serious mending, I still maintain that there is that spark of goodness that longs to express itself somewhere, somehow.
I am not saying such a good-heartedness will ever be our "ticket" to heaven (the Lord forbid!), but it may make life a little more "heavenly" down here. While I cannot explain why a part of Haiti gets wiped out by an earthquake – that would be sheer presumption – nor can I personally give anyone a God's-eye view of natural catastrophes, I can comment on what I do know: We are one earth, we are one people, and all cultural and political differences must be put aside when any one of us suffers.
I sort of think the Haitians would agree.
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