[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=soapbox&iid=7438818″ src=”6/4/4/0/Hoar_Cross_Holds_12c4.jpg?adImageId=9051965&imageId=7438818″ width=”234″ height=”351″ /] I try to refrain from “venting my spleen” while writing for public consumption.  The cybersphere is already full of bile anyway, why add mine?  The margin for error when standing on one’s soapbox is also very large and I despise being ignorant outside the confines of my own home.  Actually, I am not a big fan of ignorance at home either.  Deep breath, now the plunge.

I am appalled by the news coverage of the earthquake that struck Haiti January 12th.  It seems that as soon as something really awful happens somewhere in the world Americans are anxious to go into compassion hysteria.  We made New Orleans into a “great American city” and promised to “restore it to its former glory” after the hurricanes.  I visited New Orleans before the disaster, I worked in post-disaster clean up and I have visited the city recently.  From my view, the hurricane afforded a terrible, dirty, violent city a historical opportunity to remake itself.  The city bears marks of actual improvement over its pre-hurricane state even after the indescribable devastation it suffered.

I am seeing the same thing happen to Haiti.  I visited Haiti years ago and even though I was quarantined to the “tourist areas” I am scarred by the experience.  The systemic economic, political, and spiritual poverty is hard for an American to fathom.  One may expect such lack in the bush of Africa or the depths of the South American rainforest, but a few hundred miles from the United States?

I choose to ignore the American news casts, instead getting my video news feeds from outside sources.  I watched footage from several international news agencies last night and my fears were confirmed:  there were bodies of the dead strewn on the street sides and sidewalks, some not even given the dignity of being set aside.  One of many particularly memorable images was of a perhaps seven year old child laying on the curb, head grotesquely resting on the street below.  A long line of unseeing foot traffic walked past.

I did a quick search and already the first return page is full of sites ready to receive relief donations.  Haiti, a nation of 8,000,000-9,000,000, received 1,461,000,000 in direct aid between 1990 and 2005 from the United States alone.  I fully support wise giving to relieve Haitian suffering.  It is prudent to know, however, that the current state of buildings in Haiti is the normative state of the country and we should not pretend otherwise.

Machete-wielding looters brought more terror to Haiti streets Friday as US troops poured into the quake-ravaged nation to start streaming tons of aid to traumatized and destitute people.     

This is Haiti. I am sure there are all sort of places fingers may be pointed, but the facts remain, Haiti is a place where much of human depravity and human need may be found without any effort.

Pray for Haiti, pray for the women and men who have made it their life’s work to stand with the light of the good news of the love of Jesus in the midst of a land known for its witchcraft, its trafficking of its own children, its addiction to addictions and chronic susceptibility to preventable disease.  Pray these brothers and sisters in Jesus will remain strong and keep pointing people to the hope of every nation.  Pray that God will rescue Haiti from being Haiti and give Haitians the power to be something far better.  Give carefully, give generously and keep on praying. 

For my Main Street family, 100% of funds directed through www.gobgr.org go directly to servicing the need in Haiti.  Nothing kept back for advertising, overhead, or conferences in the Bahamas.