Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Haiti

We don’t watch TV much anymore. When the box is on, it’s either fixed to the local PBS station or playing a DVD. When I went to bed last Tuesday night, I read a blurb about an earthquake in Haiti. The story didn’t say much. The headline didn’t hook me.

On Wednesday, my dad, brother Bob, and I went to see Avatar. My dad mentioned that they still were unable to contact anyone in Haiti, even those at the American embassy. I was shocked. I didn’t know it was that bad.

It’s hard not to be depressed when things like this happen. A lot of people ignore these things, close their emotions off from what is happening "so far away." I find it hard to do that. I dwell on my inability to help. If I had a job, if I didn’t have kids to care for right now, I believe I’d be on an airplane or at the very least, donating money.

My dad kept saying, "Oh, you wouldn't want to volunteer for that. It's not like they'd be putting you up in a hotel or anything." My dad and I differ a bit on these types of ideas.

“Evangelical” televangelist, Pat Robertson reared his ugly comments shortly after the tragedy. He claimed that Haiti had made a deal with the devil, and God was punishing them for it. That made me very angry. The Bible is full of scriptures that tell us that God doesn’t do those sorts of things. Jesus dispells the idea specifically. It angers me that someone portrays Christianity this way, with fear instead of love. Many spoke out against his comments.

Tony Campolo wrote:

"I don’t believe God called this disaster down on Haiti, but I do believe God’s grace and love, flowing through those of us who are surrendered to God’s will, can bring healing and redemption to our Haitian brothers and sisters."

One Christian blogger pointed out that none of us cared much for Haiti in past decades while its people lived lives of incredible poverty. Our politicians, our country has done little or nothing to help these people or their country. His plea was this:

“Please, please give generously to help Haiti get back on its feet. But in a week or so when the story has gone from our screens, let’s not forget them, and let’s try to get the systemic issues sorted out. They need debt forgiven. They need minimum wage agreements. They need symmetric fair trade agreements. They need to be given a fair chance, especially by the US.”
- Kester Brewin from his blog: // __ issues. in code. __ //

The problem, of course, is that there are tons of places all over the globe that need help. Individually, we can't help them all. I believe we could help most of them if we acted collectively, in an organized way, but I also realize that there are many that just don't care.

Unlike Mr. Robertson, I don't think God is currently reveling in revenge or anger. I believe He's in mourning. The Bible is pretty clear: He suffers with us and for us.

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