I know I'm way behind on commenting on the earthquake. Until now, I didn't really feel like I had anything to add to the conversation. I still don't have much to add, but I read an interesting story online yesterday. It was about how ESPN fired Paul Shirley for a blog article that he wrote about Haiti. You can read the controversial article here. You should read it. It's thought provoking. It will probably make some of you mad. I can understand that. I disagree with some of the things he said too. However, I think he makes two interesting points (-points that I then expanded in my own head. Much of what is written below is my commentary, not what he actually said in his article. Just so we're clear.)
The first is about how we can't just throw money at problems like this. Haiti is going to require transformation changes to every aspect of it's existence in order to move forward. Haiti has bigger(?) problems than the devastation caused by the earthquake. Morally, spiritually, economically, relationally, educationally, environmentally, you name it, Haiti needs help with it. What I take away from this is how are we (the rest of the world, the Church, etc.) going to help the people of Haiti make the transformational changes in these areas. Money up front helps. But, in the long run, the whole philosophy of their culture is going to have to change in order to make any measurable improvements to their well being. How can we (I) help with that?
The second thing that resonated with me is that we need to focus a lot of attention/prayer on the children of Haiti. Kidnapping and human trafficking can abound in situations where the infrastructure has completely collapsed and parents are separated from their kids. While the earthquake brought destruction and death, the result of a child being kidnapped and sold into slavery is the real hell on earth in my opinion. Click here to learn more about the problem and how you can help (I realize that this site allows you to make a donation and that I just said we need to do more than just give money. I'm ok with the contradiction.)
