I haven’t intentionally stayed silent on the issue of Haiti, but I haven’t really known what to say. I have a lot of thoughts, but I knew that I needed time to articulate them.

There is just so much tragedy.

It’s easy for me to sit in my house in my little bubble of pain and feel sorry for myself. But in reality, my life is not so bad. I read stories and see pictures of the people of Haiti, people who suffered under great poverty before this earthquake and who suffer now under unimaginably difficult conditions. It’s not just that those in Haiti are without homes, it’s that those in Haiti are without homes, communication, food, clean water, medical care. They are without literally everything. Many are without their family, and many of those will forever be without their family.

Some of you know that my husband’s home was destroyed in the 1994 earthquake in Northridge. He also experienced the horror of Katrina after only a month in New Orleans and then the wrath of Rita just one day after moving to Houston to restart medical school after Katrina. We are well acquainted with natural disastesr. We are also well acquainted with the relief that comes with it, the relief that has allowed families like my husbands and my friends in New Orleans to restart their lives after disaster. The kind of relief that simply isn’t available in Haiti the same way it is in the United States (yea, I know the US sort of dropped the relief ball after Katrina, but you get my point here).

Watching the news and reading stories this week has been interesting to say the least. In the face of this tragedy, so much good has come. So many donations, so much philanthropy, so much love poured out to strangers thousands of miles away. In my mind, this is the right thing, it is the only thing, that should happen at a time like this. We are all citizens of this world, and we must take care of each other.

But despite all that good and all those people who give money, who raise awareness, who weep for those in Haiti, there are those who have shown the ugliness of humanity. There are those who, instead of comforting people or feeling sympathy or empathy for earthquake victims, have taken a chance to spread hatred. Who have taken the chance to find a racial divide to push, who have found a chance to blame the people of Haiti for what happened last week.

And try as I might, I just can’t wrap my head around this. I really can’t. I remember similar words in the aftermath of Katrina, it was just as hideous then as it is now.

What kind of sick son of a bitch do you have to be to accuse the President of helping a nearby country, in a time of extreme crisis, for political gain? Yes, I’m so sure the FIRST thing on Obama’s mind is to develop a stronger relationship with people of African descent. That makes PERFECT sense. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the tens of thousands of people who have perished, or the hundreds of thousands who are effected by this crisis. No, you’re right, it’s all about politics.

What kind of “man of God” condemns the people of Haiti as doomed because of a deal with the devil instead of encouraging love and support of those suffering? What God do you believe in, because that is not my God. That is not my bible you’re reading. Is this what you think God wants? Is this what you think Jesus would do?

I can’t help but find it highly ironic that some of the same people spewing this ugliness towards aid to Haiti supported the United States entry into war in Iraq. A war that we have stayed in for the “benefit” of the citizens of Iraq. So it’s okay for us to participate in a war, thousands of miles away which had nothing to do with us to “help” people in Iraq, but it’s not okay to donate money and supplies to a country suffering from a natural disaster? Please explain this to me because I just do not understand.

I am disgusted by Rush Limbaugh, by Pat Robertson. Listening to them makes me feel physically ill and makes me feel horribly sad, but I find that my sadness is mostly for them and for those who agree with them.

If you cannot have enough faith in other people to assume that they’re helping others because they truly need help or truly want to give help, then maybe you’re the one who needs help right now. If you cannot believe that your fellow man, that the leader of your country is helping those who are less fortunate, those who are literally dying because he can, because it’s the right thing to do, then you are the one with the problem.

I don’t wish ugliness on Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh, because the ugliness in their own lives must already be so vast, so overwhelming, to make them act this way and say these things. The only way that I can understand these men is to understand that their lives must be truly horrible to think that these words and thoughts are okay.

And I only hope that when they reach rock bottom like the people of Haiti have, that someone will be there to lend a hand. That someone will be there willing to help them because they need it, even if they don’t deserve it.

Because it’s the right thing to do.

As a sort of post script to this post, my husband is currently signed up with a group of his physicians at his hospital to travel to Haiti to help provide medical care to earthquake victims. We don’t yet know if he’ll be able to go because of his schedule, but if you can spare good thoughts or prayers or whatever it is that you believe in that he is able to go to Haiti and return home safely, I would greatly appreciate it. I’ll let you know when we know more.

Share this on

5 Responses to “The Right Thing”