A Prayer for the Living, By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

November 10, 2010 Whitney Farmer 7 Comments

Whitney manages a rock music venue on a beach in L.A. She has an M.B.A., and performs karaoke for free.

If a prayer for Haiti was answered, what would a ‘yes’ look like?

A hurricane that was named after a man who struggled with believing in God would be headed towards the broken land. It would gather power as it churned over the warm waters. A million people would be told to find shelter to protect their lives, a heartbreaking plea considering that they are already refugees from a crushed city. If they left the lowlands to avoid the storm surge that was expected to sweep over them — as had happened in New Orleans — they still had no refuge. The mountains were expected to shed deadly mudslides because deforestation had left nothing to keep the topsoil in place. The northern peninsula which includes the Artibonite Valley was already filled with refugees and was battling the beginning stages of a cholera epidemic. If the storm continued on its path, it would make a direct hit and could sweep the devastated capital clean. There was no escape.

A dry wind came from the west. As it hit the eye of the hurricane, the heart of the storm was broken and it became disordered. The wind velocity slowed until it no longer had the strength to be called a hurricane. And the spiraling tail of moisture that would have brought the storm surge as well as mudslide-inducing moisture into the land was pushed westward over into the Dominican Republic. There, the land was still forested and green and could drink up the rain.

The limping beast that had been Hurricane Tomas was guided as the New York Times wrote through the upright goal posts of the Windward Passage that separates the island of Hispaniola from Cuba. After it had been threaded through the narrow strait, it regained power and once again became a hurricane.

In all, the in-country estimates are that 20 people lost their lives in the storm. And while cholera has reached Port Au Prince, the one case identified thus far occurred before the storm hit. Despite the rains, it doesn’t appear that this water-borne killer spread dramatically because of the storm.

Of the billions of dollars that were pledged internationally to help Haiti rebuild after the earthquake that flattened her capital, it is estimated that only 15% has been received by the various agencies working on the ground. While individuals internationally have been faithful and stood by their promises to give, countries have failed thus far to fully honor their oaths. The cholera outbreak that the country is now facing was predicted in the event that insufficient international aid arrived. Water and latrines are all that were needed and these were well within the resources of the global community to deliver. During times of war, these elementary aspects of battlefield logistics are the first to become operational. With 1.3 million people homeless from the quake, it is estimated that as few as 500 new living structures have been built. Some relief agencies such as OXFAM are beginning to discuss exit strategies that will be implemented as soon as the first quarter of 2011. And others such as American Red Cross might have allocated funds in ways that appear initially to have benefited their personnel rather than the Haitian people. Logistically, it is essential to have operational headquarters that are stable and well-provisioned in order to be able to efficiently manage the limited resources that are available. But, it remains to be seen if this is in fact what is occurring in all cases.

A God that is worth worshiping is going to have both the power and the will to take authority over storms. It makes sense that a prayer could be answered if it was asked. But thus far, difficulties for Haiti have come through the most beautiful but potentially tragic divine gift — free will. Haiti would have fared better in this quake if she hadn’t been mistreated for five centuries by colonial powers and endemic despots who coveted all that she once was and once had. Since the quake, she would have fared better if countries were faithful to their promises to her. In this world, the first question that is asked after the instruction “…Love your neighbor as yourself…” seems to be “Exactly ‘who’ is my neighbor…?”, as if we are trying to cut it as close to the line as possible so that we can avoid inconveniencing ourselves. Individuals and civilizations continue to look for loopholes to the requirement of active love.

God steps in to help, but there is a limit to what can be done. He — unlike we — won’t violate an oath, and free will was given without strings attached. He won’t force anyone to do the right thing.

Quote of the Blog, from Sean Penn (aka Balaam’s Beast, God bless him…), regarding his work with the 55,000 refugees in the camp he unexpectedly established and is directing: “I grow tired of relief work myself. It’s rugged duty.”