Hope for Haiti

Note: This is my newest editorial, which appears in the January 27 issue of The Patriot newspaper.

Turn on any news channel, read any newspaper or open any web page and much of the information found is related to the tragedy in Haiti.

Everyone has a connection. News organizations and journalists are scrambling to find someone with a friend or relative there or someone who is making an effort to raise funds or provide supplies or services. The world is waiting eagerly for reports, footage, and the latest news.

Especially news of hope.

While watching the Today show early in the week (the first hour with Matt, Ann, and Meredith, which I rarely get up in time for) I heard about how searchers were still looking for bodies. It was almost a week after the horrific earthquake struck and rescuers were still finding people who were alive. People who had managed to survive for a week under all the rubble.

Over the course of the past century, there have been many events, man-made and natural, that shocked the world to its core. The London bombings and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the tsunami of 2004, and 9/11, for starters, were earth-changing. Each one has not only made the world’s population take notice, but has also shown us that we should have concern for our fellow man and woman, no matter their creed.

There is some dispute over the “reason” behind the hurricane. Some influential people have been quoted as saying that God caused this to strike Haiti and that the US was one of the first to help only because our president happens to be of the same skin color as many of the Haitians.

I think that both of these claims were far from the truth. I can’t pretend to know God’s reasoning behind why things occur as they do. However, I find it hard to believe that my God, the one in whom many other Christians put their faith, would “cause” this to happen. Also, it seems ludicrous to believe that a person’s skin color has anything to do with whether or not help is given or comes to them. It should come no matter what.

I refuse to believe that the tragedy in Haiti is a good (who is saying it is “good”? thing. That goes entirely against the definition of the word “tragedy.”

However, it is plausible to believe that good can rise out of such a tragedy. It is evident in the help that has been pouring out from around the world. There are rescue crews from China, Germany, the UK, the US and other UN-member nations. Donations and supplies have been consistently coming. Even the University of Kentucky’s Coach Cal and his Cats got in on the action by hosting a telethon Sunday in Lexington, Ky. They managed to raise one million dollars in around five hours.

And people are still being found alive in Haiti. That’s something worth believing in.

A tragedy struck. That’s something we can all agree on. Out of that tragedy, we must continue joining together to help. We are all a part of humankind and we shouldn’t wait for someone else to help. This is our world to care for and that includes the people in it. We must hold tight to that last bit of hope and continue to work together with our neighbors around the world.