THE PEOPLE OF HAITI

I have put off blogging about the Haiti earthquake.

One because I wasn't feeling well and this whole thing was

making me feel worse and two, because what can be said?

Should I talk about my questions to God?

Should I talk about how tragic each and every personal story is?

Should I talk about our TES french teachers who have

been on pins and needles awaiting news of their loved ones?

This morning I will type with no plans.

I will type what comes to my head in hopes that I can grasp

inside myself what I am feeling.

All of us sometime in our lives have been faced with some

type of horrible happenings that was hard to get through.

We as a community know what total destruction is.

We have seen the floods of Juan, the devastation of Katrina,

the crumbling of our own twin towers.

We know and understand what Haiti is going through,

but only to a point.

You see because even through all of this, we had family

to help us, we had hospitals to go to, we had churches

and groups to pray together. Even though people

were stranded for days after Katrina, we knew once they

were rescued there would be food, shelter, hospitals,

doctors and everything they needed to build back up.

It would be slow but there was hope for these who

lived in one of the richest countries we call home, USA.

What I feel for one of the most poorest places in the

world is something that is hard to put in words.

I cannot imagine surviving this to find my child

dying with no hospital or medical care to bring them to.

To just hold them not knowing what is wrong praying

they either die soon without suffering too much or

wake up and get better over a few days.

There are no places for them to go.

They are laid out in fields waiting for food, water.

When food and water does arrive the trucks sometimes

have to pull away still full because of the mass crowds fighting

for the necessities for life. They are afraid and

this makes them act like animals, they are in survival mode

and they are doing what they feel they must do to live.

Yet in most of the pictures and telecasts, there is

calmness, stillness, resigned fear as this

destruction settles into their minds.

Our people still argue with our governments

our public officials for what is done post-destruction.

We had FEMA trailers, free food, yet we still wanted more.

These people sit and wait for trailers that are not coming

for food and water that will probably be dropped to them

via helicopter as they hold their loved once and pray for

death or life.... Some don't even know what a higher power

or prayer is, they have been too poor to be taught these things.

I cannot even begin to explain what this has made me feel inside.

I don't want to watch yet I am drawn to the channels that

tell the stories of the people of Haiti.

As we go about our Sunday morning, our day

and we celebrate the winning of the Saints

think of one thing you will do for the people of Haiti.

As for me, this morning at church I will be making

my monetary donation to the Catholic Haiti fund.

Nothing I do will be enough in my eyes but

doing nothing is just not an option for me.