Friday, January 15, 2010

a moment re Haiti

never let it be said i don't have a social conscience of some kind, nor let it be thought that i am not conscious of current events--both are things which have become part of my job, and so are things i do try to maintain. to this end, i'll shift the usual topics of this blog, if only for a moment, to help out with the crisis in Haiti.

i have no connection to Haiti. i just know that it's a country that has suffered tremendously, both historically and now. and i know that its presence in U.S. and world awareness has waxed and waned over the years as a function of geopolitical interests. i also know that the international efforts to respond to the disaster there poses a crossroads in a number of ways: a crossroads in the health of the people (either aid comes in time to prevent further loss of life, or aid arrives too late to prevent an onslaught of fatalities wrought by disease, infection, malnutrition, and starvation); a crossroads in the welfare of the country (either this is finally the moment that the country's political system divests itself of its past predilection to corruption, violence, and kleptocracy, or the country falls victim to the selfishness and callousness of its leaders); and a crossroads in the commitment of the world (either the world demonstrates a true desire to live up to the more noble aspects of this age of globalization, or the world demonstrates that the promises of greater welfare were illusions foisted by those with darker interests in world affairs).

these crossroads are real--just reference these:
in the hope that we can make things for the better and not the worse, and in the hope that we can encourage the taking of the more noble direction of the crossroads rather than the nefarious, i'll offer up this:

for those of you who would like to help, but are wary of con artists seeking to take advantage of your goodwill for their own benefit rather than the victims, the U.S. State Department has set up a way of donating via your cell phone. you text the word "Haiti" to 90999, and it will prompt you for a $10 donation to the Red Cross International Relief effort which will be billed to your cell phone account. if you need verification of this, you can refer to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (she mentions this at the end of the segment):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUL7n8dxkU0


i tried this myself, and it works. and it prompts you, so you can change your mind if you want. i figure you can't get much more legitimate than the U.S. State Department.

hope that helps anyone out there who's interested. good luck. and here's to social causes.

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