So there was this family. They fell into a very deep ditch — a father, mother and a son and daughter. They stayed in that ditch for years. There was minimal vegetation growing in the ditch so the family – although extremely malnourished – was able to survive on the growing vegetation.
They called out for help over and over and over again. The children asked the parents why people would not help them. The parents had no answers. People often came by the ditch for vacations and sometimes if the family was lucky, someone would toss garbage into the ditch. Others came by to offer religion to the family. They would toss down Bibles and other religious materials for them to read, but no one helped them out of the ditch.
These conditions began to take a toll on the family and the mother began to get sick. Of course, there was no medicine or really anything that could help with colds. The father began to pray. Then he began to mock God in anger because of how the family was treated by His creation.
Then one day a tropical storm hit the area. This was the worst storm to date. Water began to fill in the ditch, but they couldn’t climb out because the storm had created a mud slide. They were now left to tread water and pray that someone would help. Then all of a sudden, a CNN helicopter spotted the family. Soon other news crews showed up. The family became the lead news story across America and then the world. Everyone rushed to the aid of this family and offered them food, clothing and medical treatment. This lasted for months. There was even a two hour, commercial-free, telethon on TV to raise funds for this family.
Then, as fast as the media came, they went. Another story had taken precedence over this family and before long, everyone forgot about them. Years later, that family fell in another ditch and they all died.
Now up front I want to say that I am never against helping. I’m just against hypocrisy and helping.
You would have to be a compassionless person to not acknowledge the tragedy that is happening in Haiti. I’m not sure what to call a person who would rather help suffering folks in another country before helping his fellow Americans who are suffering.
Is it the conditions that matter? What I mean is when someone is suffering in this great land of opportunity, it’s shameful. The sufferers who live here in America must not be sufferers at all. I guess they would just be slackers! After all, there is opportunity here, right?
We have more orphans here in America than they have in Haiti. We have more poor people here than they do in Haiti and we still have more homeless people here than they do in Haiti, even after the earthquakes.
Nevertheless, countless supplies are being sent to the far country. Planes are flying over our poor and suffering to reach those who are suffering in Haiti. Louisiana wasn’t helped this fast. There are Katrina victims still in need.
I guess my point here is that you can tell a lot about a country by the way they handle those who make up the lower society. It’s sort of like being a Christian. We would frown on the person who professes their faith by only helping people when there is something in it for them.
A good question is how long do we help Haiti? We’re not going to change the status of the people there. When we leave they will still live on $2 per week and still have more than two million people die because of a lack of clean water.
Maybe this will all blow over in April. Why April you ask? Oh, that’s when the Masters tournament begins and Tiger Woods will have to come out of hiding. Poor Haiti. But for now, “All Hail Haiti!”
ClydeStyle 