How Quickly We Forget

How Quickly We Forget

There is a new status message going around on Facebook that really bothers me and it’s part of a trend that I’m seeing more and more.

“Shame on you America! The US has homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - and yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations raising over $57 million! 99% of people won't have the guts to copy and repost this. I agree- help our own first!”

Besides the fact that the level of human suffering and despair in Haiti is beyond anything that we can possibly fathom. Yes, even worse that what we witnessed with Katrina. This country was in desperate poverty long before the earthquake. We’re talking children dying in the streets from starvation.

Have we forgotten the unprecedented response to our own tragedies and the outpouring of support that we received from countries all over the world. Many of whom could hardly afford it.

Have we forgotten the outpouring from countries all over the world on September 11? Do you remember the hundreds of thousands of people across the globe pouring out onto their streets carrying candles, sobbing and outraged? Do you remember the touching stories of those who took care of our citizens, as if they were their own, when they were stranded in their countries? Do you remember how quickly the other countries rallied around us in our efforts in Afghanistan? The thousands of offers of aid, rescuers and equipment?

And when Katrina hit. 99 different countries pledged money, rescuers and machinery. Including countries like Bangladesh, arguably one of the poorest countries in Asia. Sri Lanka and Maldives, who had just 1 year earlier suffered the loss of over 180,000 people in the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Both Iran and Iraq also contributed 20 million barrels of oil and 1 million dollars, respectively. Countries that had no money to give, gave what they could in doctors, nurses and blankets.

Yes, shame on you America! But, not for the reasons stated. Shame on you for forgetting those acts of kindness and forgetting that just as in Haiti, we are all vulnerable. Let’s hope that when the next devastating natural or man made disaster that befalls our country, that those who have given so unselfishly before don’t feel the same way as those that unthinkingly, ungratefully post that “status message“.