Remembering 2010 – Hoping For a Better Tomorrow For Haiti
Posted: Sunday, December 19, 2010
by Rose-Marie Chaperon
Chaperon Consulting, LLC
Standing between old and new years, between what has been and what could be, we form our resolutions for the future in a spirit of possibility and potential. Haiti has had many tragedies and our people have suffered from the hands of many; the January 12, 2010 fatalities will never be forgotten. What did we learn? – The tragedy: The earthquake caused severe damage and destruction in the Port-au-Prince area which is densely populated. By February the death toll was at an estimated 230,000, it was classified as the deadliest earthquake in the last four decades. Haiti's unethical and unfit President Rene Preval issued a desperate appeal for international aid following the earthquake, stating that the tremor was catastrophic and is unimaginable, and that the Parliament, the tax office, schools, and hospitals have collapsed. Other collapsed or severely damaged buildings include the UN peacekeeping mission, the presidential palace, the national cathedral, and the main prison.Earthquake Awareness: Haitians did not experience a large earthquake since 1860 and it seems they did not even know that they live on or close to a historically active fault system. The leaders and so called intellectuals and scholars were too busy destroying the country’s cash, reserve and resources rather than taking the time to educate its people and have strict building codes in place. Emergency preparedness was non-existent in the country. Preval and the others who were in charge at the time proved that their leadership skills were way below standard and therefore should not have been trusted to even be in charge of a high school let alone a country of 9 million people. They should have been imprisoned for gross neglect and misconduct. Even 11 months after the earthquake the county remains in a deplorable state. The question we should ask is: Why make New Year's resolutions if there is no hope of change at all? If the past is a momentum that is impervious to transformation, why bother?
At New Year's we celebrate the sense that we can step outside of the normal flow of time, touch a creative and visionary source within us, and shape the world afresh – we call it hope for the future. After the earthquake, we said, “with the help of the international community leaders, President Preval will step up and put the country back where it belongs” This was ultimately inaccurate by a few points, as we couldn’t foresee the lengths to which that Preval and its other unethical leaders would go to shoot themselves in the foot to spite Obama and the other world leaders by showing them that Haiti will always be the poorest country in the western hemisphere no matter how much help it receives.
As we start the New Year and the daunting challenges we all faced in keeping our country safe from our political leaders, routers, and murderers of our culture. We find that the country stands strong and vibrant and ready to take its independence from old unethical government. For that we ask to those we believe in and pray every day to provide us the strength to forgetour yesterdays, embrace our today, and welcome our tomorrows; while we try to forgive those we feel are responsible for the state of our country.
Lord we praise you for your unequaled greatness. Thank you for the year behind us and for the year ahead. Help us in your new year, Father, to fret less and laugh more. To forgive more and hate less, help us to believe in helping those we are less fortunate than us by giving them a helping hand. Help us to teach our children to laugh by laughing with them, help us to recognize that a life is a life and to value and respect the handicaps, the elderly, women and children. We ask you to give us a leader who has high morals and ethical values, a person who will put the country’s needs first and who believes in the intrinsic concept of human nature and can assure that human life has its own intrinsic value. Lastly, we ask you to teach us how to accept and understand that everything that exists is unique and was made for a purpose, teach us to accept others for their unique abilities. We thank you for another new year and for new chances every day. Give us peace, hope and a better tomorrow.
One last thought - Do not live the nightmares of former times or under the shade of what you have missed, move forward with hope!
As always thank you for reading and we welcome your comments. ~ Rose
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