Haiti: amidst the horror, a few good stories
It’s only about one small child who was saved, to be sure. But whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.
I have highlighted this story not only because of the heartwarming fact that the four-year old child trapped for three days alone in the rubble of a building was saved after hope might have been abandoned, but because amidst all the stories of shootings and lootings it shows ordinary people getting together to do a great and noble thing:
People in the street ran to get a glimpse of Paul Derlice [the boy] as he was carried down a huge pile of rubble by the heroic Haitian men who slaved for hours in the blazing sun to free him.
Strangers formed a large circle around the small boy and jostled each other out of the way to get a closer look, reaching their hands into the sky and exclaiming: “God lives!”
The rescue effort had begun after a voice was heard in the wreckage. In the absence of help from authorities or official rescue workers, the neighbors took matters into their own hands:
A group of neighbors – swelling in size to as many as 10 men – began digging for Paul using whatever primitive resources they had on hand.
In the terrible chaos and suffering following the earthquake, some people are taking advantage of the situation in order to do bad things. But others—and far more of them, I’d wager—are rising to the occasion to do good.
This story is just one of what will be thousands of stories of human resilience, good will, and brotherly love. Crises and tragedies always bring out the very best in some. And, unfortunately, the worst in others.
I feel so proud to be an American. We know that our money, our military, our aid workers, our missionaries, and our volunteers will help put Haiti back on its feet – hopefully in a positive way that will last this time. It seems a chance to rebuild that country from the ground up. Wretchard at Belmont Club talked about the opportunity to put many young men and women to work at decent wages doing much of the clearing and rebuilding that will be necessary. Such jobs could become a reservoir of wealth that could lead to better education, better infrastructure, and better government.
We are fortunate to have the wealth and know how to be able to give our fellow humans a hand up when needed. It is incumbent on us to recognize that our wealth and know how are a positive force for good in the world and must be preserved in the face of misguided politicians who don’t understand where that wealth and know how came from.
There are lessons to be learned from every experience. May we all be a bit wiser, more resilient, and more charitable as a result of this one.
As can be judged from TV coverage, most people in Haiti do no bad and no good things: they are in torpor and walk without purpose like zombi. I do believe that most people here, just as everywhere, are not villains and can sometimes organize to do something good. But a small portion of bad guys can spoil everything when they are organized (into criminal gangs), and others have no will or courage to stop them. This is the real curse of poor countries: the only form of self-organization in such societies is criminal activity. They need external force to maintain social order allowing good people to cooperate. And it seems, in Haity a really big occupying army is needed to prevent pillage and robbery.
Neo,
You mentioned the other day that the US values the individual rather than classes. I hope that a bit of this thinking infects the people of Haiti. I hope they come to trust their own abilities as individuals to accomplish things. And I hope that they can begin to feel pride in these accomplishments, even when they are small.
As to our role, I hope we can help them to build safer buildings. I hope we can inspire them to begin reforestation projects that protect them from floods and teach them some modern agricultural techniques that will improve the soil and increase the yields. I hope that we will use the Haitian people living in the US to build a lasting bridge to the island–people to people. Now they need food, water and tents, but in the long run they need a healthy dose of American optimism and can-do spirit.
General Russel L. Honoré — for President 2012!
This is the real curse of poor countries: the only form of self-organization in such societies is criminal activity. They need external force to maintain social order allowing good people to cooperate. And it seems, in Haity a really big occupying army is needed to prevent pillage and robbery.
and then that army would be despised as occupiers and a really big revolution would be called for to overthrow the occupiers to prevent them from “imposing security and democracy” on the robbers and pillagers. Then the US press would side with the robber and pillagers and we would install another communist like Aristide. Then the only form of self-organization in such societies is criminal activity…. Ad nauseum infinitum….
expat Says:
January 16th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Haven’t we been doing that for several decades now? With precious little to show for it.
Than again, “American optimism and can-do spirit” has been flagging lately, as we hurtle down the road to serfdom.
Folks in Alanon say you have to harden your heart and let the drunk sleep it off in the front yard. Only by feeling the full consequences of his alcoholism will he be motivated to stop: so don’t walk him inside and take his shoes off and put him to bed.
But in a case like Haiti, it seems that “enabling” was tried and “tough love” was tried, one after the other, and nothing works. Why?
I don’t buy the argument that they never got over colonialism. There are plenty of former colonies around the world — we are one, for example — that have prospered and thrived after throwing off the yoke. So that’s no excuse. Other factors have to be in play.
And yes, the British DID exploit us — that’s why we had the Revolutionary War.
Other factors, other factors.
BTW, that was a serious question: I’m baffled.
One of this “other factors” is that no former French colonies prosper, compared with British colonies with alike demography and climate. Even Spanish colonies look better (Dominican Republic on the same island). All in all, French turned out rather incompetent colonialists. They were concentrated on short term gains in exploitation of colonies, while Brits had more ambitious long-term goals, including nation building and progress of civilization.
ricki,
I honestly don’t know whether we have tried to change attitude. The Haitians have had lots of UN/NGO-type help, but I suspect that this encouraged dependency and a sense of entitlement. Typical 60s do-gooderism has been taking some hits, be it from the broken windows theory or the (original) microcredit programs, or good governance policies. Maybe, just maybe, there is a chance for something different to happen here.
We may be getting better at understanding the importance of taking sides, and being on the right side. Provincial politics and political correctness are the enemies of optimism here. I like Grays reply, “ and then that army would be despised as occupiers and a really big revolution would be called for to overthrow the occupiers to prevent them from “imposing security and democracy” on the robbers and pillagers. Then the US press would side with the robber and pillagers and we would install another communist like Aristide. Then the only form of self-organization in such societies is criminal activity…. Ad nauseum infinitum….
I have a couple of points to make. Neo-neocon, thanks for posting a positive story. The pictures shown with the story at the NY Daily News show Haitians helping Haitians. These images are necessary as Haiti begins to rebuild.
The US will help as we often do but we must begin the story at the beginning. When Haitian slaves revolted and gained their
The US will help as we often do but we must begin the story at the beginning. When Haitian slaves revolted and gained their freedom, it help paved the way for the Louisiana Purchase (includes 14 U.S. states) because the French needed to finance wars. In addition, the French forced the Haitians to pay reparations well into the 20th century always threatening war against Haiti. The U.S. occupied Haitian from 1915 – 1934. Prior to that, Haiti was the largest exporter of sugar cane. Everyone has had their hand in keeping Haiti poor.
In more recent history, Haiti elected a democratic leader twice, yet the international community did not support him and he is currently living in exile in South Africa.
I say all of this to say, that we must tell the whole story and truly support Haiti’s efforts to rebuild that empowers but we must be careful of what Chimamanda Adechie is the danger of the single story (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg). She says “if you want to dispossess a people, the simplistic way to do it is to tell their story and to start with secondly.”
The Haitian people are resilient, self-reliant, and will survive. The question is whether we will help them in this effort to empower themselves or will the US continue to support corrupt regimes.
Another TED video worth watching is Andrew Mwenda. Although it is about Uganda it is appropriate in financially supporting Haiti – http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/andrew_mwenda_takes_a_new_look_at_africa.html
The catastrophe that struck Haiti may present an avenue for Haitians themselves to start anew by rebuilding a new and a better nation. This can be done in many many ways. Self-reliance as a nation should be realized, ricki might be correct, Haitians should check it out.
The picture shown in NY Daily News: Haitians helping their fellow should be seen by themselves to let them realize that they can do something good for themselves and their countrymen.
The next point is….Haitians are in dire need today! We have to help them.
Voodoo keeps people afraid and makes them cowed into apathy by the nearness of the spirit world. It was exploited by the horrible Tonton Macoute regime of “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his gruesome son, who for decades kept the country as their own rack-rented fief. But please do not forget that Mother Teresa came to Port-au-Prince in 1981 to receive the Haitian Légion d’honneur from “Baby Doc,” as well as to accept stolen money from him, and that the Vatican protected the foul system for as long as it was able. In September 1992, exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide denounced the Vatican from the podium of the United Nations, correctly pointing out that it maintained the only embassy that still recognized the continuing post-Duvalier dictatorship. Unfortunately, Aristide’s own brand of religious populism was a failure. Still, one cannot believe that the Almighty has recently slaughtered so many Haitians because of the unbelievable squalidness of their competing priesthoods.
The elephant in the room is that Haiti is 99% West African. I have serious trouble identifying a venue (city or state or country) with similar population that amounts to anything. Liberia? DC? Detroit? Alcorn State University?
and then that army would be despised as occupiers and a really big revolution would be called for to overthrow the occupiers…
http://tinyurl.com/y8ofl45
Well, you certainly called that one, Gray.