Today was a better day at the volunteer center. I got in late, around ten thirty in the morning, and already it was fuller than last night. Because of a previous engagement I could only stay until two pm but I am grateful I was able to help. Thankfully we got a lot of water and medicine, in today’s donation effort and hopefully the next few days will only mean more supplies for the people of Haiti.
I always prided myself in being a well informed person that can be rational in the face of ignorance, that can be calm in the face of adversity and that can be willing to drop anything in order to help people with bigger needs than my own. I finally realize that I am only capable of helping others but that I can’t abide ignorant people or stay calm in the face of something I consider unjust.
This horrible tragedy that has befallen the people of Haiti is not a joking matter. It is real. As we speak, people are homeless, fathers & mothers are childless, children are listless as they wander the destroyed streets of the only home they’ve ever known. Yet all over the country you hear the snide comments underneath the pleas of help. I can hear them loud and clear and it shames me to the core that my fellow Dominicans can be so petty at a time like this.
I know I am not a typical Dominican person, my family is not religious, my parents don’t think the most important role I’ll ever have in life is to be a wife and mother, I don’t care about the in crown or the latest clothes so maybe the things that affect me seem strange to the rest of the world; but as usual I don’t care. I can’t stay quite in the midst of all the stupidity I've encountered in the past two days.
I can understand that not everyone is as emotional or intense as I am and maybe because I’m both to the nth degree everything affects me more than other people, yet I am proud of that. I am not a hypocrite that sends out cans of food while condemning and entire country based on the color of their skin. I am not building with hands to later destroy with words. I don’t stand around preaching to God while saying that “Haiti is cursed...because of a pact they made with the devil”
I hope I am not alone in my anger. I hope I am not alone in my shame towards those radio personalities that want to focus so much on how great we are for helping but that we must help over there. I am not saying we need to open the borders but I don’t believe we can condition our help. Do you condition your love? The people of Haiti need everything, as their neighbors we should be willing to do for them all we want them to do for us if we were in need.
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So what specifically set you off on this day, besides the creepy reverend?
ReplyDeleteIn that last paragraph do you mean from over here? If it was, then just remind yourself that that is the voice of fear and ignorance speaking.
You know what? On principle I agree with you but ultimately I think that as long as people are helping I don't care if they're doing it out of guilt (for thinking so many nasty things about Haitians), hypocrisy, or whatever. Actually, I hope guilt turns out to be a great motivator and possibly induce people to help even more than they normally would.