"We have to be there for them in their hour of need." President Barack Obama
This is a very difficult post for me to write. My heart is breaking for the people in Haiti where a 7+ earthquake hit yesterday evening just before 5:00 local time. So much devastation. So much poverty. But I have to be honest: I am so grateful to be in Colorado right now and not living in Haiti.
I almost feel guilty sitting here at my computer in my home office. I have heat, electricity, toilets, telephones, and plenty of food and clean water. I have everything I need and much more. How can there be people with so little living so close to the richest country in the world? Are we so self-absorbed that we don't notice the suffering of others until disaster strikes?
Today I will take a nice hot shower knowing that in Haiti there is no running water, hot or otherwise. I will go to my freezer to peruse my choices as I decide what to fix my family for dinner, never doubting that when I flip the switch the lights will come on and my electric stove will heat up. Or maybe I'll order a pizza to be delivered to my door by some young driver who has likely filled his tank with gas from the station down the street. I'll talk to my husband by cell phone, send a text message to my son working in New York, and email friends and associates all from the comfort and safety of my home. For all these things I am truly grateful.
Tragic reports and photos have been displayed on the TV news channels for over 24 hours now. I've been glued to CNN and MSNBC watching the horror and devastation in grim detail on my high-def television, unable to look away. I've tried to imagine walking out my front door and seeing my neighbors' houses flattened, driving down the street and seeing stores and schools turned to rubble, unable to contact my loved ones, not knowing if they are dead or alive. The idea is so foreign to me that it is almost incomprehensible. What would I do? Where would I go? Who would I turn to?
Last night as I watched the tragedy unfold I was struck by reports of survivors singing and praying in the streets after the earthquake hit. They sang songs of praise and gratitude as they cleared rubble from the streets, searched through buildings turned to flattened concrete, pulled bodies from the wreckage, and tended to the injured and dying. We are all blessed by this testament to the strength and resiliency of the people living in one of the poorest countries in the world. For that I am also grateful.
Disasters like this earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami in Sumatra, or Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, remind us of all that we have to be grateful for, but for most of us the effect is temporary. Eventually we go back to our comfort zone and forget how fortunate we are. We complain about our perceived lack and wish for all the stuff our neighbors have until another disaster comes along to remind us of the beauty in our lives every day.
How will you hold onto that recognition of gratitude long after the disaster is no longer in the news? How will you acknowledge how rich your life is?
Everyday I will join the Haitians in songs of gratitude and parise. Everyday I will offer prayers for those who are suffering. Everyday I will remember to say "thank you" for my life.
So what do we do now? Visit Guidestar.org for a list of reputable charitable organizations working in Haiti. Please give what you can, as much as you can.
[photo from nola.com)
"Can hear people gathered in the distance singing prayers," wrote Richard Morse, hotel manager at the Oloffson Hotel, on Twitter. (CNN.com)
"Church groups are singing throughout the city all through the night in prayer. It is a beautiful sound in the middle of a horrible tragedy." -- From Twitter user troylivesay in Port-au-Prince at 03:09 a.m. Wednesday (posted at CNN.com)
"I'm hearing singing and praying from from the carrefour feuilles area.. My prayers go out to the folks there"-- From Twitter user RAMhaiti in Haiti at 9:26 p.m. ET Tuesday (posted at CNN.com)
The faithful prayed -- for relief, for mercy, for safety -- as aftershocks rumbled across Haiti on Tuesday evening. (CNN.com)