Water + Guns = ?

Please forgive me for doing something I try so hard to not do – which is point to a problem without offering a solution.  I prefer information that builds not tears, such as the divorce rate is down in Massachusetts since marriage was available to all adults and unwanted pregnancy rate is down where abortion is cheap and accessible.  I want to be part of the solution or be quiet but this week I know something is wrong and I have no idea how to fix it. 

The earthquake in Haiti is on TV, on Facebook and twitter, on texting and T-Shirts.  Anderson Cooper and Ann Curry are showing me what is happening.  I have seen Mother Teresa’s order, the Sisters of Charity, offering help in the street.  Gas stations have gas, vehicles are moving.   We have all seen tons and tons and tons of supplies.  We are told there is a bottleneck at the airport.  We are told they are waiting for the Marines to arrive.  I want to look at that. 

Can we only hand a person a bottle of water with a pistol strapped to our hip?  And then we wonder why someone has terrified look on their face.  Isn’t the person with the gun the purveyor of violence?  Why is there a military answer to a humanitarian problem?  Is that all we know how to do – is everything to be divided and conquered?  These people are 50% under 15, were 85% unemployed and starving before the earthquake. 

These are not bulked up people who watch football, drive their 4X4 through the golden arches for dinner and sleep late on Sundays.  These are not sated people who believe they are entitled to what the Jonzes have.  They are not armed gang members who have a stash they do not want to share.  Is anyone else hearing the voice of Barbara Bush commenting "things are working out very well," in regards to the post Katrina astrodome being better than what the evacuees had before?  (You may recall they were given 2k credit cards)

The Haitians are poorer than we, in the US, can even imagine.  They were frail before Tuesday.  They are hovering death today.  This “bottleneck” in wait for armed military is killing more.  Really, what on earth is a gun going add to this mix – not rhetorical.  It adds fear, force and murder.  I am double disturbed that almost no one is talking about this, not that I am alone  - I am most of the time, but that these thoughts are not in the human conversation. 

It was a short facebook post by Sherry Wolf today and an article by Bill Quigley on Common Dreams that gave me the courage to publicly state this – I am grateful to them both.  Please join with me in considering that when we show up with guns and boots and big military plans we create the outcome itself.  It is exactly what we are doing with 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.  If you want to be friends with me, send me a card with candy not show up with an automatic weapon and a plan.

ADDENDUM Magnificent piece by Bill Quigley that I discovered.  Ten Things the US Can and Should Do for Haiti

Comments

[Sherrywolf2000@yahoo.com]

Zoe-Also see, "Where is the Aid in Haiti?" at socialistworker.org
In struggle-Sherry Wolf