Tragedy & Engagement

While driving around with my wife I began to think about Haiti. Not about the tragic events that have racked that nation or some of the stupid things that public figures have said regarding their plight. What struck me was a feeling of hope and the idea that in the face of all the things in this world that are wrong, depressing or sad, people still have the capacity to help those that they do not know.

Celebrities and artists from all walks of life and every corner of the globe, former heads of state with a plethora of differences between them have come together with thousands of the world's citizens to reach out to a devastated nation. With every global tragedy, be it Darfour, Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Serbia-Herzegovina, The Phillipines, China, Thailand, Katrina or September 11 (to name a few), the world comes together to the best of its ability in an effort to return some semblance of normalcy and hope to those who have been affected.

Later in the day I was struck with a question, one that often comes to me in the aftermath of charitable efforts like this in the face of tragedy. Why? Why does it take such painful, awful and tragic events like Haiti to remind all of us that everything going on around us, whether or not we are directly involved, should matter to us. If my neighbor down the street gets mugged or beaten up, it affects me. If I lose my job, or my cousin drops out of school, it should matter to our community, because both of those events could be a pattern of a larger issue going unresolved.

As the saying goes, "no man is an island" and since we can't actually succeed without the efforts of everyone else, it would benefit all of us to care about what happens to others and get engaged before things escalate. Before a couple of weeks ago, most people couldn't point to Haiti on a map, but now it's the first thing you hear about in the morning. Haiti has had problems for many years now and if the world cared about the country a little sooner, things might be a little different.

If each of us can take a minute from the isolated lives we're working so hard to live, we might become more aware of what's going on around us and put ourselves in a position to do something about it. Who knows, maybe we can prevent the next Haiti, Katrina or Darfour. One thing I do know is that effort spent preventing disasters is goes a lot further than the effort responding them and a little concern for others today might result in a brighter tomorrow for everyone.