A Reflection on Greed and Guns

I’ve been re-reading Tuesdays with Morrie (it was in the guest house book shelf).  For those of you who don’t know the story, Morrie is Mitch Albom’s old sociology professor and together they embark on a project to reflect on the meaning of life, as Morrie slowly dies of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).  What a beautiful story!  And it’s short…  I highly recommend it.

Anyhoo… Morrie said something that made me think of Haiti.

“… if you’re surrounded by people who say, “I want mine now,” you end up with a few people with everything and a military to keep the poor ones from rising up and stealing it.”

It applies to most of the world, but it’s incredibly obvious here in Haiti.  People are materially poor, as they were before the earthquake and continue to be.  The rich are filthy rich and the poor are struggling, and the UN is here, toting their guns around, “keeping the peace.”

Now I recognize that the UN soldiers are here with noble intents.  They’re here to stop riots and protect people.  Riots are stopped with guns, shields and tear gas, right?  But all over Latin America, the poor are oppressed.  They demonstrate to demand their rights.  Food, water shelter, health, and, most importantly, dignity, which are not too much to ask for, and they have very few outlets from which to ask.  For whatever reason, burning tires in roadblocks and assembling in mass numbers are they how they express these needs.  Are foreign guns really necessary when people gather to request respect and support from their own government?

Corinne and I went to the beach this weekend and met some awesome guys from the US Army.  They’re from the National Guard, volunteering their weekends and taking time away from their families to support my country. What a welcoming, enjoyable group of guys!   They’re 18 soldiers, here as a part of the American humanitarian efforts who have come to help with crowd control at the US Air Force’s hospital in Saint Mark.  I’m really curious to hear more about their experiences when they start working. 

I’ve been to many hospitals in Haiti, and I’ve never seen armed forces there.  I’m curious as to why the Air Force is having so much difficulty “controlling” their patients… Or maybe the problem is with the patients’ families?  Why would people be getting unruly in a medical facility?  Are there misunderstandings going on?  Do they need more translators?

Needless to say, I taught them a few Creole phrases, and they promised to keep me posted as to how things go.

But it really brings me back to Mitch’s sentiments.  In a culture of greed, where the rich and powerful need to protect their wealth and uprisings among the poor destabilize their businesses, what else can we do to “keep the peace”?

Interestingly, he talks about creating your own culture, not giving into the materialism and selfishness that mass marketing totes, but rather to cherish family and loved ones and to choose to value more meaningful things.

“Invest in the human family.  Invest in people.  Build a little community of those you love and those who love you.”

            This can be applied to Haiti too.  Invest in human capital.  Empower people to help themselves.  Build relationships and listen to people. 

            Unfortunately all of these take time.  There are no quick fixes.  But I think that people appreciate that I’m taking the time to get to know Haiti and build relationships, before jumping in and trying to “fix them.”  And to think, Morrie Schwartz has probably never been to Haiti! 

Haitian child transporting mud as part of a community pond project

There’s No First Aid for Decapitation

            Haiti definitely has a dark side.  I can honestly say that I have never felt unsafe.  People are always friendly and hospitable toward me, but just like any collection of humans, arguments ensue, people are shot and some people are just bad people. 

            I’m still personally struggling with Terry’s experience.  He is a recovering alcoholic who came to Haiti volunteering as a foreman on a building project.  A few days ago, he was in the car with his crew, the group of Haitians who worked for him, and they passed a freshly beheaded body in the road.  He was traumatized as he looked on, as they casually drove around the body.

            Now I know his Haitian counterparts were affected too.  They told me so.  But what do you do when you see that?  I am so grateful that I was not in that car.  There’s no first aid for that.

            And it struck me.  Initially I thought, I don’t know if that person was Haitian or American.  They may have been in an argument, they could have raped someone’s sister (rapes have increased tremendously since the earthquake, one act of aggression responding to a sense of powerlessness), or maybe they were outright attacked.

            On further reflection, that person was likely not a foreigner.  They didn’t appear in any news, I got no emails from my government warning me of the dangers of Haiti, as someone was beheaded this week.  They had to be just another dead, poor, nameless Haitian… not worthy of news, as it’s sadly too common.

            Needless to say, Terry started drinking again… and he, like Haiti, will likely have a long road to recovery.