You + 6 Degrees of Separation = Haiti . . Please Help

Believe it or not, you and I are related. And, believe it or not, you and I are also related within six degrees separation to every other human being – ever alive or yet to be alive, or so they say.

What does that mean, given the current state of human unraveling that exists throughout the world today?

More to the point, what does it mean given the horrible tragedy through whose lens we now view the island of Haiti?

Well, for one thing:

The little orphaned Haitian child who has been sitting – crying – for the last five days in that pile of rubble that used to be her home . . She is your little sister’s best friend’s next door neighbor’s second cousin’s niece a degree or two removed. And;

All those people who used to laugh and cry and do their best to feed their families with so very little – before the world swallowed them up in a great and horrendous shaking . . They were all related to you and to me, or to people we know through people THEY know several degrees removed.

Need I say more?!

No matter how secure we like to feel in the idea that we would never let anything like what happened in Haiti happen to our families, it did happen to our family. It happens to our “larger” family all the time. We just don’t often notice it.

It takes things like a magnitude 7 earthquake to get our attention. And then we can’t help but notice it, can we?

And we notice the eyes. And we notice the tears – just like our own tears and those of the people we love.

And all of a sudden, we realize what happened down there could just as easily have happened here.

And we can’t not do something.

Well, now is the time. (And tomorrow will be the time, and the next day.) But today is really all we have.

So, please help now. Help because it’s family.

If you haven’t yet decided through whom you’d like to contribute, here are a few posts I trust to give straight answers. They aren’t the only answers, of course. But these sites won’t steer you wrong.

Ordinary Courage (If you’re looking for a good, straight forward listing of charities working in Haiti right now.)

Kelly Diels (If you’re a blogger, sign up to participate in the “Help Haiti Blog Challenge”. You’ll be amazed how much you have to share.)

Seventh Generation (If you lean green, or just want to take a look at a couple more.)

Oh, and if money’s tight in your world right now, don’t let that get between you and your urge to help. Get some friends together and have your town’s biggest cookie sale, or pancake supper, or whatever it is you do so well . . and donate the proceeds.

We don’t have to be filthy rich to help. After all, it’s family.

Please join me, and give whatever it is you can.

Thanks so much. Keep growing my friend  -

Gail

Tagged as: 6 degrees of separation, donate, earthquake, Family, Haiti, help, Help Haiti Blog Challenge