It's Tea Time

Haiti is decimated. It may or may not be one of the world's worst places to live now. I wouldn't be able to tell you for sure, because I'm not that interested in sticking that kind of information into my brain.

One thing I can say with certainty, however, is that crises such as these lead to an absolutely incredible outpouring of stupid. Now I know this stupidity is predicated on the belief that self sacrifice is the most noble of causes, but can we at least allow logic to seep into the cracks of our altruistic grandeur? Just a little?

If you peruse Yahoo Answers, which I often do when I'm antsy, you'll find quite a bit of questions relating to Haiti these days. Now I know Yahoo Answers is not an accurate representation of any specific cross section of our culture (or species), but it is an easy way for me to point out a set of behaviors I feel are typical of the opportunist altruist.

Before I continue I feel it necessary to point out that I do understand the desire to help another human being in need. I am not a sadist. What bothers me is what we consider to be help, and what we consider not to be help. For instance, sometimes not helping can be the best way to help. To illustrate this particular point, we'll go back to Yahoo Answers:

Here is a question posted by "Pat", who I assume to be a young woman but could just as easily be a young man (damn androgynous names):

Does anyone know of an alternative spring break for Haiti?
I'd like to somehow go to Haiti for my school spring break and help out for a week. Does anyone know of an organization I could go through?

On its face this question seems harmless enough. Even a bit sweet. Hey, who wouldn't think it was nice of this young woman/man to dedicate her spring break time to go to Haiti and do some good. Everyone who answered this question seemed to agree, and were more than willing to give her options for getting herself to Haiti. Everyone except me that is.

If you're someone who agrees with some or most of the other things I've written, you've probably already figured out what bothers me about this. It probably bothers you too. You may even have had a conversation with your monitor right after reading this young woman's (I'm going with woman on this) question. I can't guess the exact nature of that conversation, but I'm willing to bet it was rather misanthropic.

So here's the problem: This young woman is in college. She has no skill set that would be useful in the current environment in Haiti. To the contrary, her presence there would be of serious detriment to the Haitian people. You see, once her little feet (I envision her as skinny and petite, who wants to envision an obese woman in Haiti?) touch the soil of Haiti, she is no different than the Haitian's currently stuck there. She will have no way to acquire food other than through that which is supported by aid groups, no way to get water, no shelter. And if she does acquire these things, which she likely will, she will only be taking away from those who truly needed it. She doesn't need it right now, she has food, water, shelter...she should stay where she is. Hence by not helping, she is helping.

Haiti doesn't need more unskilled laborers. They are essentially a nation that is made up of unskilled laborers. Their fertility rate is one of the higher rates in the western hemisphere, churning out more low level workers by the day. What they need are visionary engineers, folks who have a great deal of experience working with important infrastructural systems like water and power. They need mouths to feed that are truly worth feeding the scarce amount of food and water they currently have. People who bring the promise of Haiti becoming a better place to live in the future. I doubt this is what they'll get.

I had planned on discussing the money situation (i.e. donations, etc) with Haiti as well, but I have some other things I must attend too. In lieu of me explaining I'll let an unlikely source explain: MSNBC.

Donations of old clothes, canned goods, water and outdated prescriptions are accumulating, said Brooks. While such items sound useful, they’re actually expensive to sort, to transport and to distribute, she said. Cast-off drugs can be dangerous.

Oftentimes, the household items donated are simply not useful to the disaster victims they’re intended to help.

“I guarantee you someone is going to send a winter coat or high-heeled shoes,” Brooks said.

In fact, after the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, aid organizers in Sri Lanka were forced to deal with donations of stiletto shoes, expired cans of salmon, evening gowns and even thong panties, according to news reports. In Florida, a truckload of mink coats showed up during the 2004 hurricane season, Rothe-Smith said, a likely tax write-off for a retailer having trouble pushing furs.

And they didn't even (shocker) mention the corruption involved in a government like Haiti. How exactly can you donate money in confidence to a place that hasn't made any progress with the aid it's received prior to a disaster?

Oh yeah, ignorance, I forgot.