Then it gnaws at you, a half a million, a half a million,.....A HALF A MILLION!!! That's the entire population of Muncie, Tuscaloosa, Cedar Rapids, Pensacola, Boulder, and Walla Walla added together. Dead. Crushed under collapsed walls, falling debris, and bridges. Dead. Total families, entire towns, complete staffs of businesses that thrived earlier that day. Dead.
I know, love and believe in God with every fiber of my being. I know he mourns these days, yet doesn't stop them from happening. I want to ask him why, I want to know the reason, and I long to ask him what his plan is to bring glory out of devastation like this. As Americans we cried and screamed at God and the television when the Twin Towers fell and 2,500 people needlessly perished at the hands of pure evil. Our hearts sank as so many homes were washed away with the dreams and histories of families during the events and aftermath of Katrina. But Haiti isn't us, is it? It's sad, but far away. A distant trouble for distant people in a distant land.
C'mon folks, we need to do better than that. As I realized my own callousness, I went to redcross.org and donated. YOU need to also. It isn't much, and it doesn't change the devastation, but it affirms our humanity. It affirms that we're all God's children, so we need to do something for each other, even if the gesture is small.
My prayers are with the people of this poor, troubled island. I hope yours are too.
POST SCRIPT****It's a day later, and estimates have gone from half a million to around 50,000 casualties. 450,000 fewer deaths than feared! A miracle in a sea of sadness. A country surrounded by water on every side, yet people are dying of thirst. I'm happy, truly happy, that the numbers have dropped so dramatically. The images, however, are hard to look at without feeling repulsed, helpless, and filled with a depth of sympathy hard to get your head around. It's a better day for Haiti,....but just barely.
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