Friday, January 22, 2010

A post about Haiti is long overdue, I've been stewing about it for a while. On the morning after the first big quake a singer said, "A lot of things that were important became unimportant today."


Robin Roberts on Good Morning America found little "Esther," adoptive child to a couple in Wisconsin and got her home.

A friend of mine is there as we speak, her hospital ministry imported a machine that cleans water for human use, they're using the water in the fish pond. They had to dig an unmarked grave for unclaimed bodies that died in the Baptist hospital where she is volunteering.

When a Haitian doctor who has returned from the States to help his people mentioned that Haitians always have hope, an American reporter looked at him and said, "Where does that hope come from?" "From inside," replied the doctor.

And then there is the dark side. There is the pernicious lack of supplies, the struggle to organize, the rising anger and anxiety of the victims, the terrifying aftershocks even days after the main event, and the total collapse of infrastructure that leaves people stranded in the middle of civilization.

Worse yet, I believe, are the scams on the internet, even people posing as the Episcopal Bishop of Haiti, asking for money, and Rush Limbaugh who said, "We already give money to Haiti, it's called income tax." Maybe he ought to go pull a dead child out from under some rubble and see what he says,--but then his pain medication might be needed for someone else instead and that would be too much for him.

Where is God when it's really nobody's fault? Right there with us, crying and struggling and giving, and holding and mourning and rejoicing, and providing hope--from inside us.

1 comment:

Carol Shaw said...

I always enjoy your posts, but this one falls more in the "wow" and appreciate category. Thanks!