Calling all humanity

I turned on the TV to watch some random crap to waste some time with and the regular programming had been replaced with a disaster gala to raise money for Haiti. We've all been reading and hearing about it for the last almost couple of weeks. The horror is just too vast to grasp. Reporters stumbling on words and children disappearing from hospitals. The stench of death and the ultimate loss of a dignified life. The breakdown of civilization and a whiff of anarchy. An experiment of what happens when there's nothing to lose and all to gain.

For me the whole event and scenario raises other questions circulating around the concept of humanity. About 9 months or so ago I wrote about how the world is so divided and how a disaster would pull us together, how we'd all unite in misery against a common enemy. Have I gotten my wish? If so, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it. Yes, we all agree it's a horrible thing, yet we quarrel about which country needs to do what. In my opinion it's always the closest country that has the means to help that should pull the biggest load. If something happened in Finland, Denmark or Norway I'd go myself even though my help'd be utterly useless. But that's besides the point and it's leading me away from the actual one. What does it matter who does what? What does it matter about country budgets where a whole nation has been knocked down? Are we seriously that selfish? Is there no humanity left in the world on a national level. The people donate money and the governments send in armies. There is no chance of profit in disaster relief! Or maybe there is, what would I know. So yes, maybe humanity is lost after all, the endless shampoo commericals roll on, papers are printed, people go on dates, coffee pots bubble on, every day life is only disrupted by the plea for help when we turn our heads to face it.

Nature isn't our enemy even though it does us harm we wouldn't be able to live without it. We can't act suprised when something happens. It does happen. It hasn't been that long since the tsunami, and there was a similar dilemma then, who's responsible, who should do what? Is every government responsible for bringing their nationals home from a disaster area? Can we expect the help from our native land while we're on holiday? To me the answer is yes, but surely that wasn't as natural as I had assumed. Where does that leave us, when there's nowhere to turn, noone to call upon in times of need? You can witness this at a very basic level as well when the first snow falls, and the ice covers the asphalt. Suprise and accidents. We can't beat nature, all we can do is find ways to deal with the hand it deals us, and as human beings we should come together and make the best of it.

I won't tell you to donate your entire salary to help Haiti. I haven't. At the same time as I believe that we should help each other out I also believe in helping yourself. It has to do with respect. If you ask others for help in a situation you more than likely could handle for yourself you're pulling energy from others. It can be hard to tell when it gets to the moment where you have no choice but to ask for help. For someone that has lost everything it shouldn't be a matter of asking for help, it should be a matter of getting a chance to build your life back up again, without even having to ask. That's what humanity is. I wish the world had more of it. Human made disasters, are pitiful excuses for prehistoric behaviour while nature created disasters are a chance for us to show how far we've come.