Every once in awhile an event occurs that renders everything else secondary.
In one of the worst natural disasters in years, a 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti and destroyed a nation that has suffered so much.
Various reports have the death toll as high as 100,000 people.
My God.
3,000 people died on 9/11. 4,000 Americans were killed in Iraq. 33 9/11s or 25 Iraq wars is what happened in Haiti.
At least with terrorism there are explanations.
With natural disasters, there are often no answers.
Some ask why God would allow this? Atheists and agnostics do not factor God into the equation, but still have the same question as the theists.
Why?
With all the technological advances, why can’t we predict with more accuracy when natural disasters are coming so we can evacuate people in advance?
Perhaps I am asking people to predict the future, and know the unknowable.
With events like these, my thoughts are so jumbled because I still cannot wrap myself around such unfathomable situations.
The president called the situation in Haiti “cruel and incomprehensible.” I often take issue with his words, but this time I think he phrased the situation accurately.
As for a certain televangelist that implied that the Haitians made a deal with the devil, I strongly condemn those remarks as the rantings of a man who has proven on many occasions that he is an imbecile.
I just want answers, and I know that those answers will never come. I will only have more questions.
One thing I worry about is what would happen if this occurred in America.
How would we react as a nation if we lost 100,000 people? Does anything make us so special that we are immune from such tragedies?
Of course not. We are as vulnerable as anybody else.
I know that life is not fair, but Haiti just saw many of their citizens killed.
This was cruel…and incomprehensible.
The Salvation Army and the Red Cross as always are on the scene, and the United States is again spreading compassion in the form of good citizens that truly do care about others worldwide.
Yet the worst aspect of this tragedy is that there is nothing positive.
The people of Haiti feel despair. We can preach about light at the end of the tunnel, but on days like this I truly understand why people throw in the towel. I am optimistic most of the time, but how do we not tell people to look in the mirror and see hopelessness?
All people want is a roof over their head and their loved ones at their side. The Haitians had their roofs ripped off and their loved ones killed.
Americans will move on, and soon focus on the next sex scandal, special election, or legislative battle.
Yes, we have to live our lives.
I just wish others had the same freedom and liberty that I do.
As for now, I plan to pray to the God I deeply believe in to provide strength to the rescuers.
If even one more person is rescued, that might be a tiny beacon of light in a situation that is dark and miserable.
I hope that the rest of 2010 brings good news, and less events that are catastrophic, cruel, and completely incomprehensible.
eric
Great post. Those poor Haitians just can’t catch a break. Just a day or so before the quake I was watching the NewsHour on PBS and they did a piece at the end of the show on how Haiti has been relatively stable lately (thanks to the UN stabilization force, and yes, I give GWB some credit on this one) and that now was a window of opportunity for economic development there. And then this happens. They just can’t catch a break. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear that “a certan televangelist” was right. But we most all know better…
I’m glad our good host pointed up Robertson’s hateful and racist (and apparently pro-slavery) rant, but I wish he’s ben more specific that it was Robertson who said it and more precisely what he said – that the Haitians had brought this on themselves by making a pact with the Devil to win their freedom from French slavery! I guess had the Haitians remained obediant little slavey-slaves to their superior white Christian masters this would never had happened! This is the kind of sick $#@% I’m talking about when I warn our good host to be wary of his “good,” “God-fearing,” “pro-Israel,” “Christian” “friends” on the Religious Right. Remember, Robertson, that sick little &^%$#@, garnered quite a few primary votes in the ’88 GOP campign. Be very, very wary.
JMJ
Being a Christian but by no means a conformist to the doctrine and never adhering to what I believe was a lot of second hand info. I was sickened by Pat Robertsons narrow minded cheap attempt at implying these people somehow deserved what has happened to them simply because they were not as Christian a country as he thinks they should be and that somehow the generations that are there now had anything to do with the ousting of the French.
What an idiot, thats like saying I got cancer last year because my parents divorced 30 years ago.
“Robertson said the Haitians “have been cursed” and “swore a pact with the devil.”
Robertson was attempting to draw attention to the moment when Haitians pushed the French colonists out, saying that they have been cursed with unimaginable problems ever since. ”
These are the kind of a$$hats the right needs to distance itself from and I myself will make sure that everyone knows that he is not representative of what I believe a forgiving caring Christian represents.
Weve come a ways in 20 years thank God that most people today realize hes not speaking for the majority of us.
And I will give Obama and Hillary a thumbs up on this one. As soon as the news was out they were all over it like white on rice. If hes doing it for political posturing so be it but as least he did it quickly. Any politicain would be a fool for any number of reasons to not respond in an expiditious manner but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt in that I dont thinks he an evil man, but instead a very misguided one when comes to his vision of America, the world for that matter.
Well said, Micky.
JMJ
They deserved that no more than my friends deserve being called teabaggers
Micky, there’s a huge difference. The Teabaggers have NOTHING WHATSOEVER in common with the Haitian people, other than being humans. The Teabaggers claim they are oppressed and abused, but they are not, while the Haitian people have endured the most horrific REAL oppression and abuse. The Teabaggers claim they are suffering at the hands of others, but they haven’t a clue in the world what real suffering is. The Haitians do. The Teabaggers are phony hypocrites who complain only when Democrats do anything, while the Haitians just wish they had anything at all.
Besides, look at it this way – if a bunch of liberals came up with the whole “Tea Party” thing first, back say when Bush was president, got together and protested with Tea Bags and such, I have no doubt at all you guys would be calling them “Teabaggers.” It’s a funny insult of convenience.
JMJ
“Micky, there’s a huge difference. The Teabaggers have NOTHING WHATSOEVER in common with the Haitian people, other than being humans. ”
There you go again, you just cant help your pathetic childish a$$, can you ?
Why should good people excersising their rights be subjected to your cruelty any more than Haitians be subjected to Roberstsonsns idiotic reason ?
” I have no doubt at all you guys would be calling them “Teabaggers.” It’s a funny insult of convenience.”
No, history is fact and I would of called them what I’ve always called them..
moonbats
“Why should good people excersising their rights be subjected to your cruelty any more than Haitians be subjected to Roberstsonsns idiotic reason?”
Because the Teabaggers are a bunch of spoiled, rotten hypocrites and deserve to be ridiculed – just like Pat Robertson, with whom I’m sure many Teabaggers identify. The Haitians are just an unlucky lot who’ve suffered throughout the ages for no reason other than Mother Nature and the White Man’s greed.
Again, I’m quite sure the term “Teabagger” would have been bandied about by people like you if liberals were out there protesting with tea bags.
JMJ
Still jersey, I never associated protesting liberals with any sexual act because of their choices. And you will never find any example of it. What you’re sure of and whats really been happening are two different things, as has almost always been the case with you.
On a few occasions I’ve called gay protestors “fudgepackers”, but then again, metaphorically/analytically to a certain extent its true, its just not a nice way to describe their choice of intercourse.
You on the other hand like some flaming buffoon think that theres some comparison between the Haitians suffering and the Tea Partiers or that I was claiming theres any relation at all.
I wasnt, but of course when have you ever been known to approach an issue without being disengenuous ?
Everyone desrves the same rights. Of course if they’re more beaten up than some others liberals will abuse and take advantage of the situation and will make a moral equivalency that says if you actually made it in life you dont deserve the same rights as any other man.
No man deserves to be judged the way Robertson did, rich or poor, no man deserves to be treated the way you think is appropriate for simply voicing his rights.
By the way.
Its been a couple days now and you still never made your case claiming what a bunch of dispicable people the tea partiers are, no facts, no examples, the examples you did supply didnt reflect any of your accusations or prove them by any stretch of the imagination…
So until then quite frankly you’re looking like a pretty jerk on the levels of Robertson in your asinine warped sense of judgement.
Micky, what is with you and this whole “Teabagger” thing, man? It’s a joke! It’s too easy! Tea bags… teabaggers… I mean, c’mon! Ya’ just can’t ignore material like that! It’s like comedy mana from Heavan! And there’s all sorts of fun to have with it! I mean, the Teabaggers represent this sort of uptight, puritanical image of America, and here’s this hilarious, perverted sexual reference right there like two low hanging walnuts ripe for the picking! Teabaggers tend to be old and out of touch with popular culture, rural and sheltered, and here’s this new, hip urban expression, completely unbeknownst to the protesters, like a sign taped to their back that says, “KICK ME IN THE GONADS!” Then there’s their whole arbitrary fanatical reaction to utterly ubiquitous, eternal politics, hand fed to these completely uneducated, misinformed shmucks by the likes of sleazy morons like Glenn “Cry on Queue” Beck and Sarah “Thanks for Commentator Gig, Fox” Palin, just like a blindfolded freshmen pledge on his knees told to open his mouth for a big “double surprise!” Ya’ just can’t make this stuff up! You really don’t see all the humor in any of this, Micky?
And Micky, there’s a huge difference between teasing a bunch of whiny old farts and blaming a poor people’s fight for freedom from slavery for an earthquake that killed 50,000 of them. Frankly, your moral equivication here is rather appalling. You conservatives get a little too carried away with the victim mentality sometimes. It’s like Eric with that whole “Ideological Bigotry” thing. I’m sorry, but’s it’s kinda hard to feel sorry for a bunch of old, rich, white guys for getting teased and hassled a bit.
JMJ
“Micky, what is with you and this whole “Teabagger” thing, man? It’s a joke! It’s too easy! Tea bags… teabaggers… I mean, c’mon! ”
Joke ?
Gee, you’re so full of sht its not even funny. Not too long ago you were giving blow by blow justifications for labeling decent americans with a sex act and standing by the description the phrase holds and now you’re trying to weasel out of it my minimizing and playing it down to mean nothing more than people holding tea bags.
really , just how freaking dumb do tyou think I or anyone else is , huh ? Be a freaking man for once in you life and just say your sorry for doing something stupid instead of doing this semantic dance that you always do when you’re in this position.
Many news outlets have already banned the use of the term after learning its true meaning along with giving apologies that they were not aware of the terms implications
Man, if I had to hang with you in any situation at work or at a bar or something you’d be getting your a$$ lit up just for being a punk little weasel who thinks he can BS his way out of anything
Tea partiers deserve as much respect as any human be they Haitians in pain and ruins or Americans voicing their feelings.
But of course in order to support your liberal BS you’ll try and determine who gets more rights than someone else depending on race and status.
Disgusting
At this point I hardly think you can say that I havent applied as much diplomacy to this situation as possible giving you a chance to be a part of a higher calibre venue alonmg with an opportunity for you to shine a better light on yourself.
Obviously you’re happier rolling in the gutter wuth the likes of the radical leftists who think giving us these undeserving labels while not really being able to bring any substance to your accusations or claims.
Nothing more than a bunch of vitriolic ad hominen BS so you can feed your little egos and hear yourself sound like what you think is great reading.
“It’s like Eric with that whole “Ideological Bigotry” thing. I’m sorry, but’s it’s kinda hard to feel sorry for a bunch of old, rich, white guys for getting teased and hassled a bit. ”
No ones asking for pity you moron, howd you come to that conclusion ?
I’m just saying that all people deserve the same respect and you could kick it up a notch and finally, maybe, grow up a little and stop photoshopping horns onto everything you say because its going to cost you what I hope has been a fairly decent dialogue over the last couple years.
If you dont give a sht fine. Theres plenty of places I can go where not only do I not have to tolerate crap like yours but I get paid as well.
Have fun with Dan, bye.
Oh God, Micky, not this stuff again… You’d light me up, huh? Nobody’s done that in 26 years. But it’s sooooo easy to talk smack online.
I call them teabaggers in public all the time and no one’s lit me up yet. I don’t like what the teabaggers stand for. That’s what’s disgusting – that these shlubs believe the insipid nonsense they so poorly espouse.
JMJ
I’ve studied Chinese Kempo for 30 years, can tangle with the best, have had my a$$ handed to me by men half my size. I dont hit anyone unless they’ve tried to kill me.
Anyone can be lit up jersey, even you.
Besides that, no one said anything about going physical, people can be lit up like the way a rabid mother in law lites up he arrogant liberal son in loaw, get it ?
Yeah, I dont like what tea partiers stand for which is everything I dont stand for so I’m gonna call them ball suckers.
You’re pathetic