Haiti - S.O.S.

By now, we have all heard and seen of the unfortunate devastation in Haiti. I have spent some time looking through a database of over 10,000 people, found or missing, in Haiti. Scrolling through the list, looking at the pictures, and reading the names was all too surreal. Many people are still missing or deceased.

With such a natural disaster impacting our world, you would think the ideal thought of people would be helpful and positive. But this is Wasoc, so there must be some criticism somewhere. I have heard and read about opinions of people who are opposed to helping Haiti. Without mentioning any names, I will mention some of the mindsets. Some people believe that we are in our own realm of turmoil and troubles and that helping someone else just adds more water to an already full glass. The argument is that America needs to worry about their own problems and fix those before trying to rebuild another country. Others say that Haiti was in a troubled form long before the earthquake, so why wait until a tragic event to lend a hand?

I understand the arguments, and I don't condemn the ideas or the thought processes. Regardless of your viewpoints, they're legit questions. We do indeed have our own problems, there's no question about it. It doesn't mean we shouldn't help a neighboring country suffering terrible heartache, loss, pain, and death. Haiti didn't bring this upon themselves, unlike many of the problems America has, it happened unexpectedly. I am in full support of sending what we can and helping who we can in Haiti. They have their hand out and there is no reason we should turn our heads, regardless of our own situations here in the U.S.

I look at it this way, if we suffered a massive earthquake here and lost our government buildings, our hospitals, our schools, our loved ones, our children...we would be the first people to ask for help. And we would be the first to wonder why no one was helping and then curse those who chose not to. It's easy to look at the situation from the outside. Putting yourself in the situation changes things. We would want the help, so we can't be so closed minded and selfish not to give what we can when needed. It shouldn't always be about what you gain, but more so what you give away.

If you can, donate to the support in Haiti. You can donate by going to http://www.redcross.org/ or by texting "Haiti" to 90999. They could use your help, support, and prayers.