The Voice of Merrill

Port Au Prince has been devastated.  Thousands are dead.  Haiti is in disarray.  Some Americans are eager to help and have already picked up the phone to contact the Red Cross and find out what can be done.  Other Americans claim they want to help but instead of taking action, they are busy figuring out a way to become a victim of another land’s tragedy.

The Voice of Merrill website has hosted a link to the American Red Cross for years.  This is the absolute finest organization on earth for getting immediate assistance to those in need locally and abroad.  Their low administrative overhead combined with efficiency of spending has been a mark other charitable organizations have only dreamt of matching.  For those more interested in helping than chattering, please click on the link and make a donation soon.

In the coming days, inboxes across America will be filled with e-mail stories of people who once visited Haiti, knew someone in Haiti at the time of the earthquake, knew someone who once travelled to Haiti, can find Haiti on a map or once had a black friend with a foreign accent.  For some reason, Americans struggle to put things in some sort of relatable context and then turn themselves into victims.  Unless that American actually survived a natural disaster that wiped out the major commercial centers of a region, like Katrina or the Thailand tsunami, they have no clue what the people of Haiti are facing.  Toss in the lack of communal support by the State of Haiti and the lack of wealth for immediate assistance, and the people of Haiti are undergoing an experience 99.5% of Americans will never know.  The remaining one half of one percent are not wasting their time discussing their own experiences, but have instead already leapt to action.

When that e-mail comes seeking undue attention by a sympathy seeker, trash it.  Even responding provides the attention that the author needs.  Don’t buy into it and don’t fall for the trap.  Doing so only implicates the forwarder as a guilty party equally as responsible as the original.  Instead, make a Red Cross donation for every bad forward received regarding the tragedy in Haiti.

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