Why is the World Helping Haiti?

January 12th, 2010 will be forever remembered as one of the worst day in our history, specially Caribbean history, as the earthquake struck the capital of Haiti, Port au Prince. Hours later, horrific images have invaded the media all over the world and days later the death toll still rising. How many have died ? Who cares about the number! It's already too many!

The good thing (if any) is the response: within 24 hours, "the world" has responded like never before, from public institutions to private ones. Non-profits to Athletes and Hollywood have responded one way or another .. not even in the US was there such a fast response for Katrina disaster victims in the first days following their tragedy. A massive economic, social and military response orchestrated by the US, for a poor country with no oil, diamonds or any other precious resource, a poor country impoverished by political instability, health crises , natural disasters and weak governance. A highly dependent foreign aid country !

So why did everyone rush there to help? What is going on? What happened to the heartless, cruel and inhuman world that watches kids die everyday from hunger in India or from the HIV pandemic in Swaziland or contemplates 2 million people dying every year from malaria in Africa?

_Maybe because this is the deadliest catastrophe in the western Hemisphere, worst than Katrina, and it destroyed the bit of infrastructure this island had and even killed rescuers and leaders?

_Maybe the US was so ashamed of the poorest country in the region so close to its borders and abandoned by all and this is the opportunity to show Haiti's neighbor Fidel Castro and the Cuban people how great is the USA?

_Maybe the US wants to repair it image damaged by it support year after year for dictators who committed atrocities in Haiti, or France for enslaving the Island and killing numbers of Haitians including their hero Toussaint L'Ouverture in it attempt to retake their lost colony?

I know politics can be very misleading and dirty but I want to be naive and believe this time it's different. When aid is pouring in from Venezuela, Iraq, Saudi, South Africa, Israel, Russia...there is something new in the air and "if you listen carefully, you can hear it" !!

A combination of a new dawn with Obama's leadership, the crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hurricane Katrina and earthquakes in Italy. All these events taught us that no one is invincible for we are all humans. We came to realize that first and foremost among human attributes are compassion, mercy and love and those attributes are not only for ourselves, our entourage or community but for all of humanity.

Besides the fact that life is very short and we should be happy for the survivors, one thing I'm learning from this tragic event is, when the world stands together, there is no problem we cannot solve and no obstacle we cannot overcome, so let's not wait for Catastrophes and disasters to happen before we help those in need or less fortunate!

Ous.