To put it mildly, the images being beamed out of Haiti are disturbing. Although I’ve never been, Haiti has always kind of intrigued me. When I was growing up, a philosophy professor who lived in the neighborhood, along with his most Catholic wife and their eight children, declared Haiti their cause. They went there many times, and many times they returned to our neighborhood with orphans, who were adopted, I believe, via a Catholic charity in Saint Louis. This was in the days before charity was openly mined for the sake of publicity, so our knowledge of the place and what our neighbors were doing there was spotty. All we knew about Haiti is that the politics were dark and the people poor beyond comprehension. Since the children were black, Haiti was placed in my young, uninformed mind somewhere in Africa. I was shocked when I realized how close Haiti is to the state of Florida, a fact that remains shocking to me today.
But geography is only one aspect of what shocks me about this week’s earthquake there. Late last year I helped a friend with a press release about a business in Haiti, which included some amazing statistics about the country’s economics, but even with some basic knowledge, the proximity of the poverty is something I can still only describe as shocking. I am shocked at the number of U.S. media people who broadcasting from there even though reports say that water, power and food are scarce. Did they bring their own provisions? I am shocked at how truly heartwarming – I am not being sarcastic – I found reports of the U.S. military sending people there to help. I am shocked that this country is sending $100 million today. Generous, to be sure, but a drop in the bucket from which the banker bonuses are being poured. Perhaps I am shocked most of all by the people I know, marginally, who are littering the Internet with word of their awakening about now knowing what’s really important. “What was important yesterday is not important today,” someone declared via Twitter. My question: what was important yesterday? And a woman I know, who lives as if PR is the work of God, is announcing today that she just cannot focus on the action items on her desk because, compared to Haiti, they're just not important. Not to worry, though. This woman has an assistant, whom she degrades regularly, so I’m sure her action items will be tended to just fine.
But geography is only one aspect of what shocks me about this week’s earthquake there. Late last year I helped a friend with a press release about a business in Haiti, which included some amazing statistics about the country’s economics, but even with some basic knowledge, the proximity of the poverty is something I can still only describe as shocking. I am shocked at the number of U.S. media people who broadcasting from there even though reports say that water, power and food are scarce. Did they bring their own provisions? I am shocked at how truly heartwarming – I am not being sarcastic – I found reports of the U.S. military sending people there to help. I am shocked that this country is sending $100 million today. Generous, to be sure, but a drop in the bucket from which the banker bonuses are being poured. Perhaps I am shocked most of all by the people I know, marginally, who are littering the Internet with word of their awakening about now knowing what’s really important. “What was important yesterday is not important today,” someone declared via Twitter. My question: what was important yesterday? And a woman I know, who lives as if PR is the work of God, is announcing today that she just cannot focus on the action items on her desk because, compared to Haiti, they're just not important. Not to worry, though. This woman has an assistant, whom she degrades regularly, so I’m sure her action items will be tended to just fine.
