I am very embarrassed to be writing about Haiti so late, unfortunately real time demands in my life could not wait. Forgive me.
That being said, I want to offer my prayers to the survivors of that devastating earthquake. The Haitian people suffer daily from bone crushing poverty. I can scarcely imagine what things must be like now with their ineffective government in shambles.
My father and his family emigrated from Haiti to America when he was but a boy of 7 years old. My father never really spoke much of his days growing up in Haiti, but when he did, he often spoke in terms of a desperate need to leave. It was always a wish of mine to go to Haiti with my father, so that he could show me his boyhood home. Alas, that is not to be, my father and I share somewhat of a strained relationship. Perhaps someday one of us will be big enough to patch things up so that we can make the trip together.
As I listen to Obama make America’s pledge to help the Haitian people, I cannot help but wonder what will happen to places like Haiti when America’s burden is so great it can no longer offer real assistance. Whenever tragedies like this strike in the third world, I listen to the small offers being made by the other G20 nations. They are more like tokens of support than real assistance. It is always America’s aid that really does the job. But what is to happen when America’s aid is squeezed down to the size of those other nations, because we have so foolishly indebted ourselves? Who will be the hope for these unfortunate people? Will the new leader of the world give as generously, as willingly or as freely as we Americans do?
Helping the world in times of need is just one of those things we stand to loose when we allow our government to foolish gamble away our children’s future. So tonight, I shall pray for Haiti, the homeland of my father, and I shall pray for America his new chosen home.
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17 comments:
clifton, were you on glen Beck show today?
Everyone is in our thoughts, I only wish we could do more
Well said, Clifton. Said a prayer for you and your father.
I will say a prayer for your family. If you are like me, you still have family in your parents country of origin. I sincerely hope that they are ok.
Saw you on Beck.
Will someone tell D.C. that they gave more of our money to banks and auto companies than another country who just had a major breakdown.... seriously. If you aren't pissed off. It isn't the government's money, stand up and scream.
Catastrophe of serious magnitude. Glad I work for a company which responded immediately and well.
I watched disaster relief in operation after two hurricanes. There's a knee jerk reaction to pledge money and send supplies before the area is stabilized and assessed. This is a mistake, since the resources can end up in places not inteneded.
Hopfully, Haiti doesn't become a huge money pit where the people that really need the help are neglected, and eventually forgotten.
I've been thinking about this, too, Clifton. BO's biggest desire is to bankrupt our nation, hand over our sovereignty and our wealth to "the world," but in doing so, he leaves us with no way to help the victims of disasters like that in Haiti and no way to protect our allies. His weakening our nation makes us less able to help those in need, and we are the ones who pony up. Did you notice that five American corporations EACH donated twice what China did originally. Oooh, those evil capitalists, each sending $2 million (and one sent $5 million, more than China's increased donation of 2.5 or whatever). This is just making me hate BO all the more. He's such a twisted ideologue that he doesn't understand that when he destroys us, he leaves the rest of the world unprotected and without our aid. Shame on him!
mood816:
Guilty ;-)
Anonymous:
The thing to remember is that Haiti will need help for a long time to come. While they desperately need help today, they are going to need that much more 6 months from now when all the attention has faded away.
Maxine:
Thanks you!
JACG:
Fortunately, there are no more members of my family left in Haiti. My grandmother on my father's side died back in the 80's. She was the last of us there.
Janelle:
You are so right, how many Americans would much rather have given that bailout money to Haiti than to GM, Chrysler and the Banks.
Janelle:
Just remember they will need help well into the future. Remember them after the media dies down.
Jess:
You are so right. I remember 9/11 and the tons and tons and tons for supplies that flood into the city immediately after the attack. Within weeks, there was tons of supplies but they were all the wrong type of supplies. The things the rescuers were looking for were work boots but instead they had tons of water.
I am following the news now trying to find out what is needed the most. I also want to learn what they will need the most a month or two from now. After the media move on to something else, the help tends to stop.
Fuzzy Slippers:
BO does this because like most liberals, he is only focused on the bad America does. He never realizes just how much the world depends on America. Heck we even send aid to our enemies.
We will lose this ability for sure. What is so awful, is we will lose it on an individual basis as well as our incomes are eaten up with more and more wasteful taxes.
I sincerely hope you and your father can patch things up. My brother and father went through the same thing for over 10 years and it really sucked.
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