While we get very caught up in politics here, we haven't forgetten about what's happening in Haiti. Tens of thousands of people have died. The carnage is almost incomprehensible.
Over the weekend, Marjorie Valbrun, a colleague with whom I've been doing some work of late, wrote an op-ed about her homeland of Haiti and her dad who hadn't been heard from since the earthquake. It's a very compelling piece:
My sisters worry that he has nothing to eat. That roaming bandits will hurt him. That he'll try to go back into our partially collapsed house to retrieve some prized possession and get hurt or trapped in an aftershock.Today, Marjorie told me that one of her cousins got to Haiti, found his mother and also talked to her father. So, he is, fortunately, a survivor, like Haiti:
"Oh, please," I respond. "You know how Papa is. He probably rounded up a few stray chickens roaming the streets and organized a backyard barbecue for the neighborhood."
Even that idea might be too small-time for him. Knowing my father, he probably appointed himself the block captain and is overseeing makeshift relief operations or has made his way to the base where U.S. Marines are camped out to ask if they need his help.
My Papa epitomizes the Haitian character; he is the ultimate survivor.
I don't know how they -- we -- do this but I've seen it through hurricanes, floods, mudslides, over and over again. No doubt Tuesday's earthquake will test this genetic fortitude and break down huge chunks of that strong wall of resilience, but I know that eventually, Haitians will pick themselves up and go on, as they have time and time again. They have no choice.But, we have a choice to help them. And, it seems like the American people -- and the U.S. government rose to the occasion.
