As I do everyday, I watch the news on TV. I’ve been keeping track of the earthquake in Haiti and the ensuing events via the Nightly News on NBC. that provide an idea of what is happening. That page now appears to be updated. President Bush and President Clinton were on television today with President Obama. The two former presidents will lead a fundraising initiative and President Clinton stated that it is important to keep the “integrity” of this fund. Money is what is most needed to provide critical supplies, President Bush stated today.

Other people may say they are collecting money for this cause. As always, be sure that the party to whom you are giving money is honest. Schiesters can come out of the woodwork at times like this.
The American Red Cross is one good place to donate money.

The death toll continues to rise as corpses pile up on the streets in 95 degree weather. The odor is overwhelming. The one morgue in Port-Au-Prince is full. Some of the people are fighting over the supplies that are being dropped. I suppose the wish to survive is overwhelming. The country is without electricity, water, medical supplies and equipment, and people are still “clawing” their way through the rubble and/or listening for any signs of life. Aftershocks continue. Hope continues that additional living people will be located in the rubble.

From all accounts, this seems to be the worse natural disaster of the century, close to America. One moment, an entire country was filled with buildings, people, and normal activities. In an inordinately short amount of time, life changed for everyone, forever.

Tonight, my thoughts turn to the news crews who essentially risked their own lives and are enduring hardships in the line of duty. I think of the dedication of our Armed Services, always marching into perilous situations all over the world. I am thankful for the efforts of other countries: Ireland, Spain, and others who are assisting in the search and rescue efforts. My heart bleeds for those American citizens who have lost their lives in a country that they went to help.

We cannot understand. If there is a God, then why do bad things like this happen? There must be a reason. It is beyond human understanding, as is the purpose of all suffering. Many have died. Perhaps, they were the lucky ones. To heal Haiti now will take a miracle and more hard work to rebuild the country from scratch than we can even imagine. The best we can hope to do at the moment is to help to alleviate the hunger and thirst of the survivors, to do the necessary medical interventions, and to bury the deceased.

The images shown by NBC make me proud to be an American. Always ready to help others, a whole entourage of Americans: from news broadcasters to medical personnel to military members and others have rushed to the aid of a neighbor, at a time of supreme need. God bless these poor Haitians and God bless America!

Patricia Cummings

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 10:17 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.