[OT] A greater appreciation for living in the USA...

[LabattBlue]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_haiti_following_the_money

 

"...It is one of the poorest places on Earth. Most basic public services are lacking, people typically live on less than $2 a day, nearly half the population is illiterate and the government has a history of instability. The public has little opportunity to be sure that aid to the government is used honestly and well. Nor is following the money easy for donors, including the United States, 700 miles away and one of the country's biggest helpers."

 

"...The Haitian government relies on foreign aid to keep itself and its economy operating."

[Eleven]

The New York Times homepage has a before-and-after photo comparison of a couple of blocks in Port-au-Prince. I could not tell the difference. (I am not writing this to be wry or sarcastic.)

 

That island has been a hotbed of trouble for three hundred years. It is very sad.

 

 

PS: Chz, why did your post disappear? It was thought-provoking.

[spndnchz]

The New York Times homepage has a before-and-after photo comparison of a couple of blocks in Port-au-Prince. I could not tell the difference. (I am not writing this to be wry or sarcastic.)

 

That island has been a hotbed of trouble for three hundred years. It is very sad.

 

 

PS: Chz, why did your post disappear? It was thought-provoking.

 

I'll get it back. It was posted by one of my tweety friends.

[spndnchz]

I am haunted by a line a student said in a class last spring. We were trying to make sense of the concept of civic life, of democratic space as something that occurs as relations among people, as something that could be a resource for change. This is the kind of power that Hannah Arendt noted arises when people speak and act together on some matter of common concern. We talked about how this often invisible kind of power is created in one community after another. Then a young woman from Haiti spoke up. She said there was nothing like this in her country because “no one goes outside.” Her meaning was clear. Life outside was frightful, but inside was safe. Poverty and corruption had created a cycle of fear and powerlessness. When a country is so dysfunctional that people are afraid for their safety in public, then they lack the opportunity to create collective relationships that could change the dynamic. In communities throughout the world, meaningful and real change has come from the bottom up when people have stopped waiting for government to fix things and begun to find ways to address matters themselves. (And then ultimately demanded a better government.) But Haiti’s condition was so impoverished that not even that seemed possible, so people closed themselves off inside.

 

But now horrifically the earthquake that rocked Haiti Tuesday afternoon has turned its capital, Port-au-Prince, inside out. No one is safe inside anymore. Families are camping out in public parks. Survivors are using their bare hands and sheets of glass to try to dig out those trapped under heaps of rubble and concrete. The immediate task is to free the living; then to provide care for the wounded, hungry, and thirsty.

 

But ultimately the task is to rebuild the city, not just with more resilient buildings but with conditions that could allow people to step outside and start to create civic relationships and a social fabric. Civic life alone is no substitute for food and shelter, but without it food and shelter will always be precarious. It all seems so hopeless now, but I’m confident that a people who freed themselves from slavery have it in their DNA to free themselves from abjection. -Noelle

 

 

[Lethbridge Broncos]

the relief effort has been amazing. they just found three people alive today. hopefully they can rebuild and keep the great spirit of humanity and passion alive. God bless those people.

[Stoner]

Thought-provoking column:

 

Haitian Earthquake: Made in the USA

 

http://www.uexpress.com/tedrall/