So I think that I have some kind of obsession with Haiti. It's been a month now since the country suffered a horrific magnitude 7.0 earthquake that leveled most of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. I wonder how I would feel about it all if it weren't for the fact that I spent a week there a few years ago myself and that my much-loved son, who lived there for two years, is heartbroken over it.
Jake has always said that everyone should visit Haiti at one time in his life. I agree. It was a life-changing trip, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go. The sites, the smells, the people we met--all left a lifelong impression on me, carving out a place in my heart and my soul like no other.
I can't say it's just pity, because it's not. Part of it yes, but not all. Strangely, the average Haitian people seem to be some of the happiest people you can find. And I think it's because they don't know--therefore they don't expect--anything different from life. Being poor and destitute is all they've ever known, all they may ever know, and so they make the best of it. The people we met were clean, they were well dressed, they were cheerful and so giving. They took us into their humble homes. Some of them fed us meals. All of them insisted on sending someone out to buy something special to serve us to drink.
The country is beautiful, if you can look past the piles of garbage in and along the streets, the rivers of bad-smelling "whatever" that seem to always fill the gutters or pool in the roads. Along the coast, people build their huts on beautiful scenic beaches that would cost a small fortune to live on anywhere else. And then they throw their garbage out behind their houses for their litters of pigs to feed on. They really don't know what they have. They don't know anything else.
So with the tremendous damage and loss of life in Haiti a month ago, I tried to follow the newscasts as closely as I could. And since the news has faded off the front pages, I have found a few blogs to follow. Like I said, I think I'm obsessed. Here are a few blogs that I have found:
portmargot.blogspot.com
cultureandsensitivity.blogspot.com
chiefhhh.blogspot.com
The first two blogs I found accidentally while blog surfing. I had found the first one months ago, long before the earthquake. Then a funny thing happened. A couple weeks after I found the second blog, they actually tied in together! The doctor who writes the "Culture and Sensitivity" blog (who is actually from the Grand Rapids area) ironically met up with the missionary doctor who writes the other blog. She and her family have been living in Haiti now for, I think, nine years. So that was cool.
And, of course, the third blog is written by the founder of Healing Hands for Haiti, which is an LDS group that has been around for quite a long time. The founder was an LDS missionary in Haiti, just like my oldest son. So I feel some kind of strange connection there, too.
Please join me in praying for the people of Haiti. My son says that the Church is the only thing that will save Haiti. When you think about it, I think he is probably right.
The Eagle Scout Class of 2009 was a record-breaking 204 new Eagle Scouts for the Gerald R. Ford Council. A few Silver Award recipients were also included, but the majority were Eagles.
Jordan sat almost directly behind the podium, so I was able to catch him in a few shots I took of the speakers (Mitt Romney and Dick DeVos) off one of the large screens they set up so we in the back of the room could see. After the dinner and program were over, I was able to get closer to the stage to get some better ones. And, of course, the highlight of the night--each boy got a picture with Mitt and a handshake.
