Shattering Lives

As a member of the Florida Press Corps for a time in the 1990’s I had the unique opportunity to encounter many men and women and become educated on a variety of issues facing the state and the country.

One of those men was former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who listed among his special focuses the long life of the Apalachicola River system and the country of Haiti.

For decades, as Graham used to explain, Haiti has been a mess, but a mess become even messier by the day.

For a long period of time Haiti was terrorized by dictators, a family of them as a matter of fact, who were as corrupt and lacking in compassion for their “subjects” as any despot around.

Graham was a huge believer that the United States could enact, yes that nasty word, nation building of the first order simply by being proactively promoting democracy in Haiti following the fall the Baby Doc Duvalier, the son of the original, Papa Doc.

The problem the country had, as Graham saw it, was a partner who around whom the country would rally and the physician who initially rose up to meet that challenge would initially seem the answer, but after a time was found to be just as corrupt and nearly as much a warlord as some of the dictators he replaced.

The country has devolved into simmering chaos, with immense unemployment, crumbling infrastructure and massive health issues.

Right or wrong, while trying to promote, with money and feet on the ground, democracy half a world away, an island a long boat ride away in our own hemisphere was devolving into a Third World nightmare in our backyard.

This was before the ground shook and much of what was left of Haiti collapsed.

And now to see the pictures on television, in the newspaper, online, is to see a country and so many human beings suffering in ways we can’t even conceive in our generally pampered existence.

Food distribution points that become the center of riots, people lining up with any sort of container they can carry for a few drops of water. People bathing in the street gutters, camped out on rubble that used to be their home.

It is hard to watch and hard to look away for the same reason, our own humanity.

This is tragedy on a scale for which charts, graphs, statistics and words too often fall short.

The pain in those photographs, the weary resignation, the desperation of those who are looking in the mirror at death, those speak volumes.

But it is also at times like this that living in this community takes on deeper meaning.

All one has to consider is the outreach of Jerry Stokoe and his merry band at Thanksgiving and Christmas, the warm meals these stalwart folks work to prepare for those increasing number in need.

Or the Kiwanis Club or the Lions Club preparing food baskets for the needy or the Christian Community Development Fund for its work in assisting in rehabilitating homes for the needy, these folks and so much more represent the greater angels of our souls.

More recently, it was truly an amazing sight to see the number of people, from around the area, who gathered around St. Joseph Bay to assist in the rescue of more than 1,200 cold-stunned turtles.

The call went out and people answered.

And so, I am confident, they will answer as the call goes out for assisting the citizens in Haiti who at this point seem to have so far to travel just to reach Third World status in which they lived before, let alone joining the 21^st Century.

This week there will be a national telethon and Operation Compassion and the Red Cross have been raising funds and supplies from the outset.

On the local level, two area churches are becoming involved and herein is a quiet plea to assist their efforts.

The Highland View and Eastpoint Churches of God, along with Operation Compassion, are collecting supplies to be shipped to the victims and families of those devastated by the earthquake in Haiti: dried and perishable meats, non-perishable canned goods, canned milk, water, blankets, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, Band-aids, gauze and rubbing alcohol.

You can drop these items off at the following locations:

The lobby of the El Governor Motel, 1701 U.S. 98 in Mexico Beach, 648-5757;

Highland View Church of God in Port St. Joe, 450 Pompano Street, 229-6235;

Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store in Port St. Joe, 125 U.S. 98, 229-1100 (Bluewater Outriggers);

Rich’s IGA Store in Wewahitchka, 201 W. River Road, 639-5343;

IGA Gulfside Store in Apalachicola, 425 U.S. 98, 653-9526;

Eastpoint Church of God in Eastpoint, 379 Avenue E, 670-8704.

For additional information contact 229-6235 or 670-8704. You can also contact and make monetary donations to Operation Compassion directly at www.operationcompassion.org or 423-728-3932 or by mail at 114 Stuart Road NE, Suite 370, Cleveland, TN 37312.

Note on the check that the money should be earmarked for the relief effort in Haiti.

One of the wonderful aspects about living in this community is the sense that even when such despair is jumping off the printed page or the television airwaves there remains a sense of hope.

And hope can feed, clothe, aid and save lives.