The issue: Disaster response to the Haitian earthquake.
Our view: American generosity continues to impress.
It’s been a rough two years for America and the Hannibal region.
While Northeast Missouri and West-Central Illinois have not experienced some of the more drastic results of the economic downturn, we still have had our share of job losses, foreclosures and struggles.
Now, a disaster of epic proportions has happened in a part of the world that has endured a government coup and food riots in the last four years.
More than 50,000 Haitians are feared dead, and the toll could climb much higher. A lot of Americans still were missing. Relief efforts are being organized by everyone from humanitarian groups and churches to Hollywood stars and corporate big shots.
Sure, there’s something obnoxious about firms that fired thousands of workers and paid their executives huge bonuses suddenly offering to do the right thing and provide a little assistance, but that’s the way things work.
If you’ve never done anything stupid, cast the first stone. Mother Teresa praised the Lord for the donation, not where it came from.
It would be easy to say we have our own problems and that we should simply ignore the desperate needs of the people in a faraway nation. But that just wouldn’t be us.
Americans are the most compassionate people on earth, no matter what the terrorists, the snobby socialists or the big time media would have you believe.
We provide more than $16 billion a year in assistance around the world. No other country even comes close. And that doesn’t take into account private donations, which exceed a whopping $33 billion a year.
The key is to give what you can. And when you send money to the Red Cross or another worthy group, remember to buy an extra can of soup or a bottle of shampoo for the local food pantry.
Like it or not, America is the world’s caregiver. It’s always been that way.
And, God willing, it will never change.
