This morning my husband and I had this strange little discussion about the reactions he’s read on the internet about American aid to Haiti.

Basically, many are claiming that we should not provide relief effort, citing American failures during Katrina, and lack of building codes as reasoning, among others. These are pretty stupid arguments in my opinion! And immediately upon hearing them I began rebuking them.

First of all, no one will ague that American government dropped the ball when dealing with Katrina. Things could and should have been handled differently / so much better. But, the relief aid to Katrina has nothing to do with how nor why we should react now. How we handled Katrina was WRONG. But letting our past dictate that we continue to make the same mistake AGAIN is ridiculous. If anything, I hope that we learned from our mistake and make an effort to do right in the future. Two wrongs never make a right, and anyone using this argument I can only imagine has some misguided notions of why we react.

We should aid Haiti for many reasons, all of which I can not describe here. High on my list of reasons for assistance is moral obligation to do what is right. Yes, it really is that simple. People are suffering. The poorest South American nation just got poorer. Haitian government is not prepared for this type of catastrophe. They need our help.

I know that many believe that the Haitian government bears sole responsibility for dealing with this aftermath. Some cite lack of building codes as proof, as some sort of .. “if they don’t care, why should we” mentality. It is clear that Haitian government is falling very short and without assistance, who knows what the outcome could be. Total and utter chaos? Who is to blame for this, I can not say. But I do know that we can not blame an entire nation for the shortcomings of their government. Here is where I sidetrack on something that I believe is an important element as to why I believe the things I do, bear with me.

Growing up in the United States has afforded me many MANY privileges. I have done nothing to deserve these privileges. I got lucky. I was born to parents in a location in the world with a better than average government that will protect me, and make efforts to look out for me, come to my rescue if need be. I was born into a place with an established means for bettering myself, opportunity and assistance. I do NOT take these things for granted. I am blessed to have these things, through no doing of my own. My life is relatively easy in comparison to many parts of the world. I can only image the hardships of being born into an impoverished nation and the struggle to build something out of nothing. I empathize with those who do. It was through no fault of their own that they were born into a less fortunate area of the world. The difficulties they must overcome seem almost insurmountable to me. I believe MANY MANY Americans do take their freedom and privileges for granted. I also believe that lack of knowledge in the world makes people unable to understand the struggles of others and the impossible situations that they are often faced with.

We should help because it is the right thing to do to reach out to someone in need. We should help because if the tables were turned, and we were the ones stuck under a building for days, we would hope and pray that someone, ANYONE, would come to our rescue. We should help because we ARE grateful for the things that we have, and want to show kindness and mercy to those who are less fortunate. We should help out of humanity, and love, and empathy and morality. It should have nothing to do with politics, or money, or who is to blame, and everything to do with wanting to be people who follow a path of what is good and right.

I saw on the news a little boy who had been trapped under a building in pain for 5 days until he was rescued. He has nothing to do with Katrina, government, nor building codes. He is just boy. I WANT to help that boy. And I would hope that others would feel the same.

I’m off to combat the ignorance of the commenters my husband referred to by donating to the American Red Cross Haiti Relieve Fund and I hope that you all will consider doing the same.