Seeing Brian Williams standing in the Port-au-Prince Airport, talking to the broken and broken-hearted, both live and taped, left me feeling broken-hearted myself. Hearing about people digging the graves for their own mothers or brothers because there was no other option pushed me over the edge.
No one is talking about this. In some ways it's like it didn't really happen. Nobody is talking about their relatives or giving to the Red Cross or even about where the epicenter was...Charlotte looked the same as it always did....no outward signs or signals for any support for the poorest country in South America. I asked my chiropractor this morning how he felt about it, and he said, "not much, honestly... there's only so much you can take before you need to turn on Sponge Bob." I understand his point...but it bothers me. I wonder if it's too easy to change the channel. Should we be forced to feel these things more deeply?
So I ask- are we better off in an internet culture? We have access to news around the world, and yet, we are either so insulated or so inundated we don't react. People around the world are hurt or in crisis, and we have no idea or we feel helpless to impact it, so we do nothing. We change the channel. We open facebook. We argue senselessly with our coworkers about the politics of a thing but do nothing meaningful to change it. I remember Aid for Africa and what a huge moment that was. After Katrina several music groups around the world attempted a similar fundraiser, and it failed miserably. The television medium is valuable but it is slowly dying.
Well, I want to get involved. This is so much bigger than Katrina. There are 10-20 times the casualties of 9-11. There was no way this country could have known about or engineered for a natural disaster like this. I'm sure sometime soon there will be Katrina-like field trips for church and charity groups to rebuild Haiti. But until then, I'm offering up the following list of sources to donate to the Haiti earthquake.
- Text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross International Relief (charged through your cell phone bill)
- Mass Emergency Relief for Haiti. This is an umbrella organization made up of local churches, hospitals, health clinics, the city of Brockton and others that are organizing to raise money for shelter boxes, which contain tents, mini-stoves and other essential equipment.
If you know of any other local agencies taking donations or supplies, please list it in the comments below.
Jen, this is John Tilton, out in Poway, CA. I can understand why you feel the way you do about the Haiti tragedy, but think you ought to know that, according to MSNBC, as of this time yesterday, $6 Million had already been contributed to the Red Cross via cell phone texting. Please, stop and think about $6 Million, $10 dollars at a time, and you'll realize that approx. 600,000 people have already done somthing about it! I find the numbers asounding, and a bit of refreshing relief re my usual cynical attitude towards such things. Hang in there, Dear.
ReplyDeleteThanks, John. That's amazing! It's just such a large tragedy and the images are overwhelming. I'm sure the next few weeks will establish some sort of order.
ReplyDeleteJohn's right, of course... MSNBC has devoted most of its on-air time to quake coverage, even, alas, to the insane ramblings of Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh. We've already done the text message contribution, and we're leaning hard toward Doctors without Borders, although Heifer and Habitat will be the long range causes.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your chiropractor went into that field and not ministry or counseling!
Love you!