God Bless America And Its People

I landed in New York this past weekend and was immediately hit with a barrage of television, radio, newspapers and people on street corners doing something for Haiti. I watched Vice President Joe Biden give a speech at an air force base, having just returned from Port-au-Prince. I usually find Biden hard to listen to, he is all charm and no substance in a way only American politicians can be, but today his words were armor piercing as he described the devastation in Haiti and what he saw on his short visit. President Obama has assembled the team of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to spearhead relief fund raising in the same way President Clinton and George H.W. Bush did for the Asian Tsunami several years back. Hollywood is doing its part too, with many Actors and Actresses donating large sums (notably Sandra Bullock committed $1m as did Bratt Pitt and Angelina Jolie) or spearheading fund raising for relief. Athletes are rallying behind the Caribbean nation, notably the NFL as it used its playoff weekend spotlight to help and announced the NFL Player’s Association will be donating $1m. So will the NBA. And there are unconfirmed reports of disgraced golfer Tiger Woods donating several million doillars to Haiti, demonstrating yet another act of humanity from America’s celebrities. Most notable however is the tens of millions of dollars the American public has raised for what is now known to be the worst natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere in decades – death toll 70,000 and rising. Everywhere I went from the moment my plane touched down there is evidence that America has mobilized in a way only it can and does when disasters like this hit.

Now other countries are doing their part too, there is no doubt of that, but how amazing is America? Within 48 hours of the disaster the US military was on the ground in Haiti setting up disaster relief operations and working with the likes of the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontiers, and the United Nations. Over 3,000 Marines are now on the island directing civilian operations and ensuring some level of safety, food and care in what is a very difficult situation. Firefighters from all major US cities have flown in to direct rescue missions as they race against time to get people still alive in the rubble out. The US Coastguard has been directing food and medicine shipments to the island and continues to ensure the sea channels are operating seamlessly. And scores of civilian aid workers from all over America have arrived in the past few days to help the people of Haiti in this time of hardship and tragedy.

Again, all of these US resources are joined by teams from around the world, but nothing on the scale of the American contingency or the speed at which they reacted. I have been overseas for the past few months so my perspective on everything is from the outside looking in, and it is very impressive. Who pays for all this? Who else drops everything like this when lives are at stake? Where is Hugo Chavez and his rhetoric now as a neighbor deals with disaster? Where is Cuba and the Castro brothers? And what about the Chinese, Indian or Russian efforts? I don’t know the answers to all these questions but one has to wonder what would happen if you didn’t have America in the picture? Would the UN be able to handle a disaster like this? Would another country step in to lead a humanitarian effort of this scale? China? Russia? India? Can the EU coordinate amongst its member states to react as fast and as broad? Who has the military and economic ability to match the US in these situations? You can’t help to ask these questions as we watch America in Haiti on our TV screens.

Again, I want to reiterate its not just about how much money countries are giving, its about the speed of mobilizing and getting bodies on the ground to help. This is where America stands out to me. It CHOOSES to do this, it is not under any kind of obligation, and that is what the speed factor proves. It has taken other countries over a week to decide how much to donate and how, but America acts first and figures out the red tape later. Lives are saved because of this. And it has done this in the middle of the biggest economic crisis it has had since the Great Depression.

The one final thought I had watching the horrid scenes of Haiti on this TV this past week is this: why must it take a catastrophe to bring people together and help each other? From the EU to the Democratic Republic of Congo, people and their governments have come together to help the people of Haiti. Yet prior to this disaster Haiti was nothing more than a poverty-stricken Caribbean state without much of a future. While the sovereignty of a country and how its leaders govern the land hold the primary responsibility for its wealth and prosperity, I still wonder what we can do to help struggling nations like Haiti find their way. After all, it’s the people who are suffering, not the governments and their policies. This is what natural disasters remind us, so what can we do differently?

I’d like to leave you with another example of Americans coming together to give and raise awareness. This is a video produced in two days by the students of the High School for Recording Arts (HSRA) in St. Paul, Minnesota. Its called a ‘A Song For Haiti’ and is a wonderful clip that has helped raise a substantial amount of donations through awareness (almost 50,000 hits on YouTube so far). God Bless America and its people, the world is a better place thanks to them.

A Song For Haiti