Anger at US builds at Port-au-Prince airport

Let's see... we're first on the scene with aid, and they're angry at us?!? Nothing new here.

 

Even if this were true, it's a fact of life. If the American government didn't put the welfare of its citizens first, who can the American expat look to when abroad and disasters of this magnitude strike ?

They're always angry at America and Americans, whether we do right or wrong.

What about leaving behind seriously injured patients needing immediate medical attention, with some on the verge of death even, just because the security of their nurses and doctors and other medical personnel may be at stake ?

The UN did that.

And the only doctor left behind who tended to the injured and dying as best he could with what he had on hand was CNN's doctor Sanjay Gupta, with no international or US force to secure him.

 

America doesn't owe anybody anything, and if Haiti can't be grateful for the help they receive from us, then they don't deserve it. We have plenty of folks who need help right here in the USA. Our economy is in shambles, people are losing their jobs and paying more for everything, and it's a stretch for us to be giving aid to other countries when we have so many issues that need to be addressed here at home.

I know some here will disagree with me on this, but I am sick and tired of other countries expecting the USA to bail them out every time they need help when all they do is trash our country in return. Stories like this make me GLAD I have not donated to the relief efforts for Haiti.

Go ahead, crucify me for not being a "compassionate Christian." I believe God helps those who help themselves!

 

Something that I have noticed on the video of rescue work in Haiti is that it seems like there are one or two people working to sift through the rubble looking for surviors while there are dozens more just standing around watching.

Why don't more of the local people pitch in so save their fellow countrymen?

 

Hard to respond without saying something that would be considered racist or anti-Catholic.

My old partner drove an LST in the Pacific during WW2. After the war he was assigned to take emergency assistance to various islands. One village refused delivery because it was the wrong kind of rice. people are not logical.

 

The people of Hati are suffering, that's a fact.
They've had a great loss.
The process of chaos and resolution involves a grief process which is irrational and emotional: If one studies the processing of grief there really are no clear cut stages, nor does one necessarily move through all in a well defined way nor in a progression which consistent nor allows for u-turns:

Those stages of grief for the individual include:
Denial: Here it is so overwhelming what has taken place that the mind shuts down and a person has difficulty, even living in the midst of the circumstances, at seeing what is real and now vs what was. Although the familiar has been destroyed, one looks with an expectation for it to still exist..... the routine... the familiar voice, the familar comfort, etc. Mentally, a person's mind trys to put the genie back into the box and have everything as it was the day before.

Bargaining: Here a person imagines that if he does certain things or makes certain agreements (can include magical thinking) then everything will return as it was before the event. .......But no matter what is attempted at this stage is a futile attempt to return to the past.

Anger: Someone or something.... or even one's self is to blame. Anger at God for allowing things to happen. Anger at those who died and left one alone. Anger at self for having survived. Anger at the doctor who gives the diagnosis, or at the person who passes out the food. Anger at the event which interrupted the normal pace or plan of life. Anger at the cost.

Acceptance: Realizing what has happen. Recognizing that it can't be changed to what was before. Observing the new difficulties and problems in the present. Resolving upon trials and solutions to dealing with those problems and moving past them into restored living based upon that which remains and going forward.

When a disaster hits a community, instead of a sole individual.... you have many people operating through all of these changes with a disconnect from each other such that one is reactionary and another is immobilized. Either way, on both those in distress and those who go in to bring relief..... they will all be challenged to cope.

The person who wants money for helping to unhaul a load..... may be trying to restore the semblance of a job lost..... a temporary but unrealistic return to the normalancy which a job represented to him while helping him to live in denial of the needs around him. The same could be true of those who look for the familiar in provisions without considering the direness of their need.

Most dangerous is the irrationality of anger...... a person is not thinking rationally nor capable of making rational decisions; whatever impluse or impatience or pain passes through that persons mind demands action for relief and release...... if that action is verbal then others become the target of verbal abuse..... if that action becomes physical.... then property or others become the target of destruction..... if that energy can be directed towards physical exertion which allows its expenditure towards something constructive.... then the processes of physical release coupled with the worth of a constructive direction may bring one back to more rational resolution.

Even with the best of planning, it takes government a while to organize and respond in a real significant way for relief. The best responders are often those already present, who are already familiar with the people and their needs and cultural ways of communicating and organization. Often times..... these should be the first consulted by the governments relief efforts.... but often times their resources, already strained, are considered to be insignificant or immaterial to whatever the government decides it can and will do and the order in which it will do it.

All I can say.... is lets pray for the pople of Hati and all those involved in relief efforts that God will bring efficiency and order into the chaos of their current experience. And lets not be too hard on the astounding dissonance we will see among some.... if the stories and the pictures keep getting flamed on t.v.. The people are in an emotional upheaval and emotions block rational thinking and action.

Edited to add..... For many of the survivers it will be like time has stood still and that nothing is being done. A week may seem to pass like a month, and a month like a year. Everything which was stable has been torn into confusion.

 

This is sort of like a wounded soldier arguing with the field surgeon who is trying to stop the bleeding from a massive chest wound while the soldier wants a haircut. Its a difference in recognizing priorities.

I heard an interesting NPR report on the way in this morning. The crowds, just like anywhere else in this kind of thing, are actually prohibiting proper distribution of aid because of their chaos and rioting ways. The point of the report is that after a massive crisis like this the hardest thing to do is establish and maintain order. The Haitians lost, estimated, about half of their security personnel and most of their security resources. They need help. Crowd rule will not be the answer.

If the US wants to evacuate their own people they are entitled to do it imho. We are the the first in and last out here. Of course it is always hard to argue with distraught people...as any pastor/chaplain in an emergency room knows all too well.

 

Let's just pull out and leave them to themselves. Then they can worry about real problems instead of fabricating them.

 

A very brave admission on your part...

Recognizing the problem is the first step towards changing oneself.

Good luck.

I'll be rooting for you.