One reader of the blog sent the following response. It sure resonates with me. How about you?
"I am not content with the world, and the way it has been run. I hear everyday how lives have been ruined because of the incompetence of people we put in office. I look at how Obama is trying to do SOMETHING, which is more than our past President did in 8 years. Cleaning up a mess doesn't happen overnight, yet people feel it should. Where were all of these people over the past 8 years, when the mess was piling up. How dare they request an immediate fix.
I look at the people of Haiti, and how they can still sing and dance in the streets - they have it right. They know what is important - God, Family and Friends. The rest is all just "Stuff", yet the price we put on it creates wars, bankruptcies and pain.
I, like many Americans feel "stuck" - we want to do more, we want to help but it just does not seem to be enough. We can help in our volunteerism, our contributions - but there is SO much to do, and in my opinion, not enough help. For all of those people sitting on the side line, yelling at the game - GET UP and play - get up and participate in any way you can. We all need to help get us out of this mess..."
Thanks,
Lisa Piccolo
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Lisa's got it right!!!!
ReplyDeleteGary Tomei
I share many of the thoughts posted lately about the difficulties and frustrations in seeing so much suffering, desiring to do what we can, and watching what appears to be limited responses from groups and individuals with the means and/or power to act positively. Disasters such as the recent earthquake bring these issues to our attention, and also remind us of some of the chronic conditions, as there are in Haiti, which so many innocents around the world have to endure as their lot in life. I thought some readers may be encouraged to hear one story (of millions) of someone who has devoted much time and effort to help improve the conditions of those much less fortunate, coincidentally in this case Haitians. I can't help but be proud to say this person is my daughter Mae, who 5 years ago bravely joined me as a 12 year old on a medical mission to the Dominican Republic organized by the UMDNJ School of Public Health to provide care for Haitian immigrants who work there in sugar cane fields under what most all human rights groups agree are slavery conditions. I won't go into many details of how deplorable the situation is there (nothing quite like seeing people scour a garbage dump for food), but offer the link to the Dominican Republic Outreach Program in case anyone is interested. The orphanage that the school sponsors is an especially heart-warming effort.
ReplyDeletehttp://sphweb02.umdnj.edu/sphweb/outreach/
Anyhow, Mae brought along backpacks full of simple art supplies and taught scores of children drawing over the course of the week, and has urged me since that we return again to help more, which we will do in April. In Public Health we consider Health to be a combination of physical, emotional and spiritual aspects, and for me there's nothing better at addressing the health of the spirit than the practice of art. My kudos to all those like Mae who routinely go far from their comfort zone to directly assist those much less fortunate.
Lastly, my suggestion for donations to help in Haiti:
Partners in Health, the group started by a fellow named Paul Farmer who was the subject of a Tracey Kidder biography, Mountains beyond Mountains, a few years ago (great book if interested) http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti
Peace.
fred h