Sunday Snapshot: Haiti
Sunday Snapshots is the Three Intentions version of the Week in Review. This week, our national consciousness has turned toward the tragedy in Haiti. I want to share the following Quotation of the Week, which came from the the other Week in Review:
“A day felt like a year. You’re buried alive. You can’t scream. You wonder if anyone will ever come.”
—Ronald Jedna, who was rescued from the rubble of his apartment building after the earthquake in Haiti
There is no putting words to what’s going on in Haiti. The loss is unspeakable, the death toll incomprehensible. One glimmer of goodness is what’s seemed like an unprecedented number of calls to action. I’ve received emails, information, and updates from every corner. I even saw an ad on my online thesaurus with a link to help Haiti.
And so this week’s inaugural Week in Review is a simple call to keep the conversation going. If you haven’t donated yet, consider Partners In Health. Coincidentally, my book club’s pick last month was Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, an amazing story of Paul Farmer’s tireless work to help and heal the poor population in this long-suffering island nation.
Staying present to the suffering of others is a challenge, and yet it’s an opportunity for connection, too. In this mile-a-minute world where our attentions are pulled in a hundred different directions every day, global catastrophes such as this, as terrible as they are, are at least moments to stop. Slow down. Look at what’s happening and respond.