The earthquake crisis in Haiti shocks us with every news report. Tens of thousands are dead at this point, and even more tragic is that thousands more may be living, buried under fallen buildings, not to be rescued in time.
The attempts at rescue and relief are impressive, though hampered still by trying to get operational in an area in full devastation from the quake.
Indications from Canadian relief agencies show Canadian giving for Haiti is breaking all records, though this will all be needed and more before the situation is stable. Haiti is on everyone’s mind—at the Golden Globes awards last night most participants were wearing ribbons as symbols of concern for the crisis, and a telethon hosted by George Clooney was announced for Friday evening. Earlier that day, four of the best tennis players in the world hosted a charity match with proceeds for Haiti. Fund-raising ideas like this are being implemented by people as diverse as media superstars and neighbourhood priests.
Something struck me as the first news of the quake and the tragic loss of life was announced. Early reports listed immediate action by some nations: United States, Canada, Britain, the European nations.
“That list sounds familiar”, I thought. There is a common thread there.
Yes. I recognized it. The Infidels.
Islamic extremists had identified many of these nations in a controversial protest in Britain, with placards urging that these nations be destroyed, the people killed– beheaded. We were the ultimate example of evil to these extremists.
Rescue workers in Haiti, most of them from the Infidel nations, are slogging through debris, swinging malls with weary arms, pulling miracle Haitians from pockets beneath the rubble–aching for rest, but knowing they have to keep at it for a few more days as the thread of hope grows thinner and finally breaks. Canadian aid workers who died in the quake are listed on our news. RCMP officers helping in Haiti before the quake are indicated as dead or missing. Canadian high school students trapped in Haiti head for home through hellish streets of destruction, tears streaming down their faces as they watch the people they originally came to help.
The Infidels.
People who don’t deserve to live. But people who step up when crisis explodes in the world, who get involved, who give, who serve.
Something does not compute here.
At the same time, a suicide bomb in a busy market in Afghanistan kills twenty people and injures as many more. Another Canadian soldier is killed by an IED, as are two British soldiers in another event. The “Toronto 18” prepare for sentencing after their trial for planning to explode bombs in office and public areas of Toronto. One terrorist is described at trial:
Shareef Abdelhaleem, 34, who has pleaded not guilty to participating in a terror group and intending to cause an explosion, rubbed his head as he listened to the informant, a former friend, testify about a plan to leave “blood, glass and debris everywhere.”
Abdelhaleem dubbed the attack the Battle of Toronto and said a bomb powerful enough to blow up three city blocks was to be detonated outside the Toronto Stock Exchange, Shaher Elsohemy told the court… “The whole place will be scorched. Canada will be shut down.”
Anyone with a brain will weigh these two sides and do some thinking… The Infidels, while they certainly have their faults, seem to be caring and compassionate. Many of them lie under concrete in Haiti because they were there to help the nation even before the earthquake. On the other hand, the Extremists murder anyone– somehow as an example of the superiority of their beliefs? Women and children in markets? Thousands in Trade Centre attacks? Innocent passengers in aircraft?
Actions speak louder than words. If Islamic extremists were not already beyond paying attention to the real world around them, they would see and hear a message in the crisis of Haiti: Your ideas are wrong. Your choice of violence will never sell your message.
Alex Comfort’s poem “Notes for my son” always said it best, and it should be translated into Arabic and made required reading for young men being recruited by the Taliban and other extremists:
Remember when you hear them beginning to say Freedom
Look carefully – see who it is that they want you to butcher.Remember, when you say that the old trick would not have fooled you for a moment
That every time it is the trick which seems new.Remember that you will have to put in irons
Your better nature, if it will desert to them.Remember, remember their faces — watch them carefully:
For every step you take is on somebody’s bodyAnd every cherry you plant for them is a gibbet
And every furrow you turn for them is a graveRemember, the smell of burning will not sicken you
If they persuade you that it will thaw the worldBeware. The blood of a child does not smell so bitter
If you have shed it with a high moral purpose.So that because the woodcutter disobeyed
They will not burn her today or any daySo that for want of a joiner’s obedience
the crucifixion will not now take placeSo that when they come to sell you their bloody corruption
you will gather the spit of your chest
and plant it in their faces.
—
List of links to world aid organizations operating in Haiti
Well said, Francis. I agree with your comments on Islamic extremists, and would stretch them even further to include anyone who uses religion as an excuse to preach hate, violence and murder. Even some people who call themselves Christians have been known to allow their own hate-filled agendas to supersede any message Christ would have supported. Take for example American evangelist Pat Robertson’s comments the day after the tragic earthquake:
“ . . . something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it… they were under the heel of the French and got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you and you’ll get us free from the French. And so the devil said, OK, it’s a deal. But ever since they’ve been cursed. But it may be a blessing in Disguise.”
Fortunately, real followers of Christ’s teachings are sensible enough and caring enough to see Robertson for what he is, and he has been roundly condemned for his remarks. I note that even his own Christian Broadcasting Network has a link for Haiti aid donations, so even those in his immediate sphere understand the reality of the situation.
To believe that Christ would see the killing, maiming and horrific suffering of thousands of innocent children and adults as being a “blessing in disguise”, is just as outrageous as the belief of Islamist extremists that the pathway to heaven is through blowing up oneself and thousands of innocent others. The major difference between the countries of the ‘Infidels” like us and those nations who allow the continuing existence of Islamic extremists may be in our ability to recognize idiots like Robertson for what he truly is.
Any people who heard of Robertson’s comments were likely shocked more by his foolishness. Even the idea of “got together” to make this pact is ridiculous… there were 430,000 people in Haiti at the time of independence– did they gather in an arena? Haiti is on a fault line, and on a common hurricane track– that makes environmental tragedies unfortunately common. They have endured abuse by colonial powers, by a long series of corrupt governments, and prejudice from other nations. While “blessing in disguise” is a ridiculous, ill-chosen, and unfeeling comment by Robertson, hopefully this tragedy will finally lead to a better life for those Haitians who manage to survive.