Shame on you

Some recent facebook posts have compelled me to write. I was astonished by the amount of people who had such negative things to say about the United State’s altruistic approach to the people of Haiti! Here is the most infuriating post. “Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won't have the guts to copy and repost this!!!!!”
Are you people kidding me? First of all….we are certainly not the only country with homeless people who have no shelter! In fact, I would venture to say that most of our homeless people have better accommodations than most third world inhabitants! Children going to bed without eating? THESE PEOPLE NEVER EAT! They don’t have clean water. We throw more food in our dumpsters than some of these people will see in a lifetime! I won’t even broach the subject of medication! Medication is a luxury, a distant dream for these people.
I suppose a country whose biggest epidemic is over consumption would breed people who are so clueless to the plight of others. We don’t get to compare our recession and unfortunate state of current affairs to that of the Haitian people, there is no comparison! Haiti was devastated by an unforeseen natural disaster. Haiti was already the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and now they are in total ruin. We cannot begin to understand the magnitude of such a situation. 200,000 people were killed in just minutes! Hundreds of prisoners escaped from prison, who knows when and if they will be found. The government in Haiti is so corrupt it makes ours look like a boy scout troop, and we all know that is hard to do! The money raised for Haiti has to be carefully distributed so as not to fall in to the hands of the wrong people and the wrong people are the ones who are supposed to protect them!
The mere fact that we are able to donate upwards of five hundred million dollars in thirteen days should show you how much better off Americans are than Haitians. Our government was able to donate millions more because that is what we do. We are, if nothing else willing to lend support to our neighbors when they need us. If we give up our philanthropic efforts we will have lost one of our greatest attributes.
The United States is in the situation it is in because our government is too busy treating politics like a game of red rover….Red rover Red rover send Massachusetts on over ! Nothing will change with a government more concerned about votes than legislation. We can afford to help Haiti, we can’t afford to sit around and expect things to change here if no one is willing to pass a bill!
So, shame on me, I will be one of the 99% of people who do not repost that ridiculous status update. For those of you who do post that status or who do feel that way, all I have to offer is this. GET SOME PERSPECTIVE!