Where is Haiti?
February 2, 2010Following the tragic events in Haiti, the world mobilized to provide support to this tiny nation. Although I have no issue with the outpouring of altruism, I have a question: Where is Haiti? You see, prior to this event, many in the world had no idea about what was going on in Haiti and even fewer really cared.
My question does not center on the geographical location of this nation, but where it was in our consciousness. Relatively few outside of the NGO’s that provide support to this poverty stricken nation concerned themselves with the plight of the people, its infrastructure or its economic condition. Now it seems that it’s all that people can talk about.
Much of what is occurring is now centered on the question “how will we help the children?” Many are talking of adopting children from Haiti and in fact, ten Americans are sitting in jail for allegedly trying to steal children away from Haiti in order to adopt them. I find this troubling since we have children here in America who are in need of loving homes and no one is concerned about their circumstances. The larger question here is “Why do we, as a nation, seemed more concerned about those outside of our borders than those similarly situated within?”
Some estimates site that there are over 400,000 children in the American foster care system. With this number of American children needing assistance, how could anyone consciously look at adopting children from anywhere else?
I am by no means an isolationist, but at what point do we begin to put America first and everyone else second, third and fourth?
Bobby-
One issue that I have is the zero sum approach that you take. Why are the lives of Haiti’s children worth less to you than the lives of American children? You correctly point out, that because of a tragic event, people are now aware and want to help. I think anyone who values a Haitian child’s life more than an American life is also wrong. No child or adult should live in poverty regardless of where they happen to live.
In answer to your question, the reason that Americans always seem to be more focused on helping people in other nations is because of the belief in individualism. Many in this country believe that people are responsible for their own behaviors. People, with hard work, can accomplish anything in this country. I think it is naive. Another issue is that the media in this country does not feel that the plight and suffering of the poor in this country is not newsworthy enough to cover it. We have tens of millions of children with no health insurance in this country and that is routinely ignored when the media “covers” the healthcare issue. All we really hear about is whether or not it is likely to pass.
Adam,
Whenever you talk about one group over another it falls into a zero sum equation. However, my outlook was just to say that adopting children from Haiti is akin to you helping out another family while your nieces and nephews go by the wayside. While we may view all lives as being equal, in reality they are not. This isn’t to say that we should not care, but the reality is the children we have here are already citizens and diverting the means that could help make them more productive-by providing them with a stable and loving environment- and making this nation more prosperous because of an enhanced outlook is absurd.