Destroyed buildings, crumbled roads and people being pulled from rubble are just a few of the scenes from Haiti and, most recently, Chile. While the outpouring of support and supplies has been great,there is still much left to do.
Of course all devastating and catastrophic events bring people from all walks of like closer, but why only then?
With Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the genocides in Burma and Sudan, the Haitian earthquake and now the Chilean earthquake lingering in people’s minds, it seems strange that support for the people affected by these tragedies fades in time.
I am not discrediting the efforts of those who struggle and work tirelessly everyday to help those in need.
What I am questioning is, why does it take a tragedy to get an enormous outpouring of support?
Floods, fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados and other disasters, both natural and caused by humans, will continue. Still, I believe that if donations, supplies and education on these problems were constant, the efforts when disasters strike could seem less overwhelming.
I also don’t think that the generosity should be focused on how large the catastrophe is. Every cause is equally important, depending on the people who support whatever cause it may be.
In no way am I saying the events of Haiti are unimportant, but, for example, the Haiti telethon raised more than $61 million in one day.
If people (the majority of whom, I like to think, are decent) can help this much in one day, it blows my mind to imagine all the other causes that could be helped in a week.
Imagine just this country raising $1 million every two weeks for a different cause: abused animals to no-kill shelters, hungry children, the homeless, Alzheimer’s research, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, breast cancer, disabled veterans and the list goes on.
One million dollars may seem steep, but with some 350 million people in this country, that comes to a dollar per person. And that’s excluding 100 million for being children or being financially unstable because of drugs, illness, etc.
And if one dollar every week or two weeks still seems steep, think about all the cups of Starbucks coffee, candy, cigarettes, McDonald’s, alcohol or iTunes songs many of us purchase each month, and then tell me it’s too much.
And if you insist that you never spend money on anything but necessities, well, then you’re probably lying to yourself.
With just a little less greed, we all can make the difference, now and for the future.
I can think of no way better to say it than with the words of Anne Frank: “How wonderful itis that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
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