What Haiti needs to learn that Chile never forgot…

I was very happy to see that Chile could take care of itself, from deploying its own search and rescue teams and military personnel to help its trapped/injured people after the earthquake, for once I saw something different from the struggling third world country with its hand out and coming from a “third world country” it made me warm inside. I also appreciated that President Michele Bachalet was a constant face of reassurance to her people, it wasn’t used as an opportunity; the people were truly the concern. What a breath of fresh air. I’m not saying that aid was not warranted, but their first thought was not to look for it, their first thought was to do it themselves.

What can Haiti learn from Chile?

Everything. Chile even had its own fund-raisers, minus a prominently known American representative. It had its people helping themselves. They knew the dangers of them living on a fault line, they knew that they had been faced with disaster before and they knew how to come together. They waiting to assess the situation before releasing information on the death toll, on the areas affected and they weren’t quick to put their hand out.

Haiti being rebuilt is huge, it’s going to be a work in progress but if it is rebuilt the way it was then it will be a waste of time, and another generation will be devastated and left to pick up the pieces.  Regulations on housing need to be imposed and punishable by law, granted people are poor but the poor are the ones that lose the most when there is a natural disaster, regulations are there to protect the people and prevent the loss of lives and while the upfront cost (concrete panels etc) will be more expensive it will be less than the cost of a life.

Aside from regulations the people of Haiti need Education. They are on a fault line and all of the people of Haiti need to know what that means. The frequency of Earthquakes may not be steady but they need to know what to do in case of one, and they need to understand why regulations need to be put in place.  Basic first aid practices need to be well-known as well as the military (I haven’t seen shit of the Haitian military or police force;  they supposedly have one) on how to cope with a natural disaster or even high pressure situations. They also need to have safe houses, shelters and community centers; places where their people can seek refuge and get information.

In Haiti, the loss of lives was preventable and reprehensible.  Not only do we have to help them get out from under the rubble, we have to teach them how to take care of themselves. Sometimes guidance is needed, a light touch as it were. Haiti has the capability to be self-sufficient, the government (one of the most corrupt) needs to step up or step down and the people of Haiti need to be adequately represented, not only in times of misfortune but ever day.

It is my sincere hope that Haiti will pull themselves out of this with dignity and perseverance and the next generation of Haitians will be more educated and conscious of who they are as a people and what they have the capability to endure more than any other generation before them.

Getting Late…

The siren’s voice in my ear beats as slowly as my heart, firm determination in her words matches nothing inside of me. My chest rises and falls with almost no purpose. She sings to me ” It’s late and I’m feeling so tired”. Its as if she’s here with me, travailing this unpaved road leading to nothingness. “I’m having, trouble sleeping” – her  sultry voice pushes me over the edge and now even though its her, it’s me. Singing to you even though you’re out of reach and no longer listening to my voice.

You’re accustomed to my whispering submission and now all I have is unpolished cries for help. You’re not here. I’m not home and I can’t help thinking that I’ve been in this place before except now it’s you and I and it feels like it happened differently in another life; the one where I was with you forever and you were mine and I was yours until nirvana. Now there is a break in the order of things more than sleep keeps us apart and I was wondering, where did you go?  Who stole you from me?

More to come, more to feel.

Just for Today

Today was the day you broke my heart

fingers on temples

chest pounding

stomach burning and you took your time

and stood apart

You prepared your nonchalance

I was caught off guard

frozen in the New York beastly spring

rain drops encouraging me to do the same

I wish you would hold me now

just this once

I wish I could make you remember our love

Can’t I convince you against this heart ache?

Just for today, can I be everything that you need?

Everything that you’ve ever wanted?

Haiti: Aftermath

So, I was doing my daily read through of the Huffington Post Impact section and I came across this:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/17/the-8-companies-that-gave_n_466560.html

The Top 8 Companies that gave the most to Haiti.  It was surprising to see that a couple of high grossing US companies didn’t make the cut like Walmart but it was good to see that according to CNN Money 350 Companies donated $146.8 Million dollars to the cause. What we need to see more of is companies investing in Haiti being rebuilt and not only that, but being rebuilt stronger so that goodness forbid they are racked by earthquakes again, their buildings would take to it better.

The old saying – ” Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day but teach him how to fish and he’ll eat everyday” is true. Not only do we need to extend a helping hand but we need to teach the people of Haiti how to press forward and how to be better structurally as a country.

Hopefully we all can realize that we need to do more than send money now. They will need continuous support and if you believe in praying, maybe offer up some of those.

Meandering the way

The difference between good and evil is what?

The way you believe in your cause, the person on the opposing side believes in theirs, with equal if not more passion than you’ll ever have.  I think its great that people rationalize differently and that unique occurances are few and far inbetween. We forget that everyone is human. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has their passion. Everyone has a flaw.

What makes any one person better than the other? Is it their education? Their level of talent in a field? If they were raised by two parents as opposed to one? If their daddy was gone? If their life was rough?

Who gets to make that decision? Who gets to demand answers?

Seems like all we have is questions.

Winter of …

I love New York winters…when they are on time. I was looking forward to breaking out the blazers and cute jackets soon but the weather vetoed my plans.

How’s winter treating you?

Letters to Love – What just happened?

We’ve been infatuated with each other forever, the hope of a sweet kiss and a gentle touch has stroked our egos and lit our fires for years, but where are we now? I shudder to think that our relationship could have gone so cold, no more talking, no more showing, no more hoping. Where did we go wrong? Was this mutual or was it you or I, locked up in our worlds, praying that everything on the outside would be waiting for us when we returned?

You shocked me with your candor, that is, you shocked me with your pain. Opened up wounds I thought I’d long forgotten, teased me with a past that was completely consuming. What is your ploy? Why do you hurt me? Did I not tend to you as I said I would? Keeping you warm on cold days, opening my arms and my heart and my soul and rendering it to you, pretty please on top with a red bow? Haven’t I been patient? Explaining, straight forward, noble?

We were supposed to be right, the right way to love, the example, the gold standard. How will this go on? Which one of us will break it to our mutual friends. They’ll take your side, you’re perfect. I love you. Don’t go. We couldn’t work it out? I couldn’t make another sacrifice to set things right? Have you see me in the light that I see you? Isn’t there anything I could do?

Don’t do this, don’t pity my with your sympathetic nods and your cold stares. I wanted you to want me as bad as I wanted, no needed you. I wanted you to understand me the way that I thought I understood you. Can you hear me now as I cry into the night, lighting a candle on your side of the room? I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I take it back, let’s start over. I can change, I can be different, I can be someone else, someone you’d want to want, want to need, need to need, need to please. I can be. Anything. Change me. Consume me. Defeat me. Domineer me. Complete me. Fulfil me. Free me.

When you’re not here all I feel is pain and the emptiness that drives poets mad. The eerie silence that makes you want to die, cry, crawl up inside your self and lie. I don’t want to change you, I don’t want to tie you down, you have so much to offer and I don’t have anything else left to give. Believe me.

I know you’re leaving. Just leave.

Growing Up

When I was younger, I always thought that a major accomplishment would be me just reaching a certain age, I saw adult life as a fun, happy life with childhood and adolescence being filled with rules and complications. Now that I’m reaching those milestones, I have to say that I’m not that much happier or free than I was maybe 10 years ago. There was always a huge uncertainty when it came to adult life, how did the bills get paid, why do you have to work such long hours, how do you buy all the things you’d like to have etc…and my mother tried her best to explain that everything is hard, the way you deal with it is by first realizing that it won’t be easy.

I’m trying to apply that to my life now, looking for an apartment, finishing up school, trying to be content, it’s all so foreign to the idea I had that my life would be at this age. I was going to be okay by now, I would have gotten over my past, had my degrees, going into practice, finishing up my book, writing poetry for all the world and loving harder than the sun shines bright….but things don’t always go as you plan. The best you can do, hypothetically is move forward, when the pieces fall apart you can pick the pieces up again if you can find any, or create an entirely new illusion with pieces of the puzzle you remember.

On Friendship. Sidebar.

I’m pleased that I have found a few friends that I can relate to and share my innermost thoughts with, I was beginning to believe that friendship was completely one sided and only lasted up till the person you were friends with had moved on from that particular problem that you were helping them with. What kills me is that I know so many people but they don’t know me, that I love so many people and they don’t know my middle name. Sad really, but reality is sad and grimey and constant and bland and for the most part slightly amusing.

Growing up, loving, hating, being, changing, seeing, seeking, conforming….it’s hard, we can either deal with it or run away from it now and deal with it later.

Why the company you keep is important

So like everyone else who’s been checking out the presidential debates I’ve become very annoyed at the back and forth between the candidates about who they’ve been associated with throughout their entire lives and it’s become a huge deal.

I’m not saying that we should completely disregard who our candidates for both the presidency and vice presidency have been around and associated without throughout the years, I’m saying that it should be looked and onced over but what is more important is their actions,  what they accomplished  over the years and how far they have come.

We need to be reasonable, intelligent adults here. This is our future and we need to focus on what is really important in this election which is whether or not we have someone that is capable of leading this country, that is who we should vote for, not parties or race or gender, but fact and qualification.

Be intelligent voters. Your voice counts, your choice this election reflects upon the entire country.

Sarah Palin’s No Call, No Show

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images

Well the latest in Palin news is that she will not be on the talk show circuit like everyone else. So far she has not done any solo appearances nor is she attempting to put herself out there like McCain has, I think the Republican party surmised that if she is kept hush hush then maybe those in the know would forget about the whirlwind that is Palin-gate.

First Oprah came out and said that she would not have Palin on the show, stating that she would not help platform her in any way shape of form (we all know about the oprah cult) but based on everything going on, she would love to interview her after the election. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/07/uselections2008.sarahpalin1

Then, everyone notices that she’s no where to be found at all unless she’s very close to the bosom of McCain. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/09/sarah-palin-w-1.html

Repubs are scared that she would be torn to shreds by people who know what they’ve been trying to supress about her, I dare her to get on a reputable show, no BS, no drama and talk and be interviews, not with questions her party asked them to ask but with questions the world wants to know the answers to.

 

 

Anastasia R