Waiting for a New Day

You know what never gets old for me? It’s when I have an idea and I hear someone on the television voice my thoughts. It somehow validates that what I am thinking is not entirely insane. Now I know you are asking... Do I believe everything I see on TV??...of course not! I've only sent in one envelope of gold chains! Lol. But seriously. Many are alluding to a day when the cameras in Haiti will be turned off and the story will be focused elsewhere. I know I mentioned this concern on the day after the earthquake and caught fire for saying it but it needs to be said. Once the world grows tired of the story, when they can’t bear to feel sad anymore, when they stop watching and the ratings go down...no matter how pertinent or necessary the coverage...the cameras will go elsewhere. This is what happens with any issue great or small.
This is what I'm getting at...Has this event changed YOUR LIFE at all? Has it changed your perspective on your life and the lives of others AT ALL? Or will this just become another story for you? I know Katrina was for me. I started out thinking..Oh my God...we have to open up our home and take in some refugees! The Tsunami...Oh my God those poor people, how awful! The earthquake in China...the same. Are these events meant to stir the human spirit? Are they here to cause us to act? Please stay with me...I am asking myself the same questions. This is not to guilt you out or make you feel bad for going out to dinner today or booking that vacation or buying that purse. I'm asking myself this question today. I am asking myself this question because I'm having a hard time "enjoying" my life, my days. I had it in mind to buy a new couch at the beginning of this year. Something I've been wanting to do since I bought my house back in 2005. Now it just doesn’t seem right. I had it in mind to promote the heck out my annual cruise for December...but how can I even ask people to put money towards that...they could use the money and donate it to Haiti. But when I looked around me and listened closely...to the "tweets", to the facebook statuses and the TV and the cafeteria chatter and the radio....I realize that the world was already moving on. The world never stopped moving and I was left somewhere in between. Stuck in the space the twilight zone occupies. Now I'm questioning WHY am I taking this so hard? People are already moved on in their hearts and going about their business. It's like president George W Bush said after 911...go and shop. Spend money. This will help the economy and show the terrorist that they didn’t break us! And you know what? Many of us did. It astounds me how short our attention spans can be and how shallow we are, and out of touch we are with what REALLY MATTERS.
Will I allow this event to change my life? It can. We can move our whole family to Haiti and start over with the people and help them to rebuild. We can say we will adopt some orphans and bring them into our family. We can keep giving money to our favorite organizations. We can do a host of things that will affect the events of today immediately or support the efforts of tomorrow. There were an estimated 40,000 Americans in Haiti BEFORE the earthquake! Some had businesses but most were there to help and had dedicated their lives to doing so. As you can see from my accounts I lean towards the extreme...ready to move to Haiti.

Please..Thoughts...just my thoughts...

Winter started out pretty harsh for us this season. Bitter cold cutting through our bones and chasing us indoors. It was then I understood how good the bears have it. They sleep though all of the bad part of winter and wake up when it’s nice and warm. I am like the bear today...in a hurry to get through the bad part and to the end of the story that is Haiti. In a hurry for some real good news. In a hurry for some solid and concrete ideas. Something that will make me stand up and clap my hands and cheer! I would like to sleep through this part and wake up when its better but how will that help my people today. I am waiting for the new day. I hope to be one of many that will help to make this possible. Maybe this will consist of the mass exodus from Port-au-prince that Wyclef Jean of Yele.Org is talking about. Maybe once everyone leaves the stench of death they can focus on the new day that God has in store for them. Maybe something worse is coming and this was the only way to save some. Maybe the new day lies in something else. Only God knows. I don’t envy him by the way, God. How painful must it be to know the good that is coming but have to watch the people suffer this way as the plan unfolds. I tell my friends and strangers dealing with this nightmare not to give in to despair. Once you have lost hope what else is there? I have hope. I remain optimistic even in my sadness. I know a new day awaits us all.