Why we should help Haiti (insert Africa here)

So today we were discussing social issues in my English classes. During this conversation, the crisis in Haiti was brought up. One of my students asked (without malice) why we (the U.S.) should help when there are so many hurting here. It made for a healthy class discussion. It got me thinking. Now, before I continue writing this (and more importantly before you continue reading this!)I start with a disclaimer: I would never discourage people from helping those who are hurting on their doorstep. One thing that we must realize though, is that everyone is different…which means that everyone is going to be passionate about a different cause. Whether it is right outside your door or world’s apart. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think it is quite beautiful…If we all felt compelled to contribute to one area of the world, then the rest would not know compassion….the rest would fall apart.

To answer my student’s question in a P.C. manner…it is essential that we help out in our community. However, that begs the question: what is community? Especially in this technological age. According to Mark Wrathall, a contributor to U2 and Pop Philosophy, “As economies and societies become intertwined through the technologization and globalization of world culture, a sense of…responsibility for the poverty and suffering of far distant people increases…There is a sense in which our responsibility grows along with the globalization of the economy.” I, personally, find this to be true. As technology and global relations become more aligned between cultures, I find the gap to be closing. So where does that leave community? In my definition, everywhere.

Yes, I feel that the people that are hurting in Haiti are a part of our community. Yes, I feel that we should help those in our community. While many feel that it is against human nature to help those that we do not know, I think that one of the BEST things about human nature is that we can and do help those we do not know.

This last part I could not bring up in a class setting …but I believe these two stories best illustrate this extraordinary part of human nature…they are a couple of my favorite stories. Not that I am going to drag too much religion into this thought…but one of these stories is located in the bible. It is a short one: “Jesus wept.” These two words have different theories, which is cool. Some say that Jesus wept because he was sad that his friend (Lazarus) died. Others say that he wept because he was saddened by the lack of faith around him (people not believing that he would provide a miracle). Yet another group says that he wept at the sight of everyone’s pain. That he felt their pain. This last theory happens to be my favorite.

The second story is told by Shane Claiborne, who went to work with Momma T (Mother Theresa) in Calcutta. He says, “One of the beggars in Calcutta approached me one day, and I had no money on me, but I felt a piece of gum in my pocket, so I handed it to her. I have no idea how long it had been since she had chewed gum, or if she had ever even had the chance. She looked at it and smiled with delight. Then she tore it into three pieces and handed one to me and one to my friend so we could share the excitement.”

While these two stories are exploring the two different emotions of joy and pain, they are so related. The idea that we are connected by our emotion. The idea that as humans LIVING IN COMMUNITY, their joy should be our joy. Their pain should be our pain. We should want to help those in our community because it should hurt to see them hurt. That, in my opinion, is why we should be included in the gift that is cross-cultural community. Otherwise, we miss on the chance to see something so beautiful and so human.