Haitin

Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won't have the guts to copy and paste this. How about we try to take care of our own people for a change!?!?

See that there? Someone (clearly an idiot) that I'm friends with on Facebook posted that as their status a few days ago. It's laughable to compare the crisis in Haiti to any of the things listed there. Homeless? In Haiti, there are hundreds of thousands without homes due to one earthquake. Just like that, homeless. And who knows how many were homeless before that? Children going to bed without eating? I'd say there are quite a few children going not only without food but also without their parents, without a bed, without water, without anyone or anything period. Some children have no family left whatsoever. Elderly going without meds? There was a story about an elderly home in Haiti; when aid workers entered the home, they found elderly people just sitting around, waiting to die, and rats were already encroaching on them because they could smell the death in the air. Mentally ill going without treatment? The mentally ill have been all but forgotten since the earthquake. There was a story about a mentally ill man just sprawled out on a stretcher in the street, with no ID, and he wasn't able to identify himself or his family or anyone else. A man without a name.

Let's go through some statistics, shall we? Because, as I said, that statement that I started with is horrible, yes, but it's also wildly inaccurate. I don't know who came up with that bullshit first, but they clearly have no where the United States ranks amongst other countries. Or, where Haiti ranks, for that matter.

As to homelessness: in the United States, up to 3.5 million people a year experience homelessness. Not all of those people are chronically homeless. The chronically homeless dropped from 175,914 in 2005 to 123,833 in 2007. In Haiti, there are no estimates on the number of homeless, at least not from the country itself. That's because, since it's the POOREST COUNTRY IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE, the government has seen very little need for a census, so straight statistics are hard to find. However, independent organizations have estimated that up to 5 million of the 8.5 million people in Haiti were homeless before the earthquake. Even if that specific number is incorrect, the number of people left homeless due to the earthquake just reached 2 million. That's a number we do know. So, whether you take the 5 million or the 2 million, the homeless situation is far more dire than anything we know in the United States. That's not even taking into consideration the fact that the homeless in the U.S. are given better care than homeless people in most countries. The homeless in the U.S. have the opportunity to have 3 full meals a day and, typically, a shelter where they can stay. Does that mean it's okay for us to have as many homeless people as we do? Well, no, obviously. But we are absolutely not the ONLY country with homeless people who have no shelter.

Children going hungry is a serious problem in any country. The Washington Post's Amy Goldstein reported back in November that, due to the economic crisis in the U.S., the number of youngsters living in homes without enough food jumped from 13 million to 17 million in 2008. That's based on statistics from the Agriculture Department. However, keep in mind that these statistics are wide-ranging and don't mean that children are just outright starving to death. No, that number is 1.1 million. In many cases, the children have access to food, but undereat. The word "hunger" is used in a very literal sense. If a household member ever "experiences" hunger, they're considered, well, hungry. In the most basic way. While I don't necessarily agree with the way they break down their statistics, it's still unacceptable, obviously, that any child is going without food when they should have easy access to it. And 1.1 million children literally wanting for food in the United States is an embarrassment, and we should be ashamed of ourselves that it's even allowed to happen.

Now, Haiti. Obviously, many, many, many people are going without food in Haiti now. There are plenty of stories out there detailing the painful, deadly experience this has been for the Haitians. Due to the current lack of food (which is shameful, but we'll get to that later), many have resorted to eating "cookies" made of mud, butter and salt. Seriously. But it keeps them alive, so they eat. Did you know that half of the people in Haiti are children and that they are already going hungry (as in STARVING) before the earthquake? Over half of the Haitian population is 15 years old - or younger. Most of the people in Haiti already woke up not knowing where their next meal would be coming from. Imagine what it's like now. Oh, and don't forget that there's pretty much no running water. None. So, really, while there are no hard numbers, let's just consider the fact that most people in Haiti already were pretty hungry before the earthquake and now, the situation is a few steps beyond "dire."

To the issue of the "elderly going without needed meds;" well, Jesus, where do you start with this load? The elderly are overmedicated in the United States. They account 1/3 prescription drug use and they account for only 13% of the overall population. The average nursing home patient is on at least 7 different medicines. We give them laxatives when they aren't even constipated - they're forced to take them. If anything, the problem is that we are giving the elderly too many meds instead of too few. The amount of medication forced down the throats of the elderly decreases their quality of life. There's the problem. Do I agree that we don't give the elderly in our country the care they deserve? Absolutely. Do I think it's because they don't have access to medication? No. That's a blind statement, a statement used to make a point, but the point is skewed in the favor of the idiot who came up with it.

Talk about mistreatment of the elderly. The elderly in Haiti are the forgotten people, the ones forced to wait in line for food and care. Go to that link and read that story and tell me the descriptions don't make you nauseous. As Julia Moulden said in another article on The Huffington Post, we never think about what it's like to be old in a crisis like this or, for that matter, what it's like to be old in a Third World Country. Capitalized, because it should be. Around 800,000 Haitians are over the age of 60. They live in abject poverty in a country where the culture dictates that the elderly are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes time to dole out help. While the United States doesn't treat its elderly population with the respect it deserves, like many countries in the eastern hemisphere do, we also don't force them to wait around for food or medical help. So you tell me who is worse off.

The mentally ill. Clearly, we don't take the best care of our mentally ill in the United States. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) gave the United States a 'D' for adult mental health care in 2009. According to this same report, one in four Americans experience mental illness at some point in their lives, and it is the greatest cause of disability in the United States. The greatest cause. That's some pretty heavy shit. But, to keep this in perspective, "mental illness" is a very broad term. It includes anxiety disorders, depression, smoking, schizophrenia - one extreme to the next, in other words. So while I believe the assessment is accurate - to a point - one has to take into consideration what we define as a "mental illness."

Now think about Haiti, a country that is already so mired in poverty and hunger and political turmoil, and think about the mental stress its people are already under. Then throw in the most devastating natural disaster ever seen in this hemisphere. After the quake, mental health experts warned that, once the situation has "settled" (if that's possible), the people of Haiti will be open to even more mental stress once their basic needs (food, shelter, et cetera) are taken care of. As I said before, we don't have a lot of hard statistics when it comes to Haiti because they don't take a census. It's virtually impossible to take a census when you have such a vast majority of your population living in poverty and without homes, not even taking into consideration the fact that a huge segment of the population is illiterate to begin with. And these people aren't being treated AT ALL for their mental health.

Now, I don't know who the yahoo is that came up with the quote I've been referencing. It wasn't the person who posted it on their Facebook, I know that much. But it's blind, heartless, baseless statements like that that reinforces my belief that Americans hate thinking about anyone but Americans; people prefer to put themselves first, and everyone else stays on the backburner. We have it pretty good here. Yeah, things aren't perfect, but when was the last time YOU went without water or food or the medication you needed - even if it's just an antibiotic? I'm guessing that, if you're able to sit here and read my blog and peruse the internet, you're probably not wanting for much. And I'm guessing that the person who came up with that ridiculous quote probably doesn't give money to charities and organizations that benefit Americans who are poor, homeless, hungry, et al. So why should they give to Haiti? Why be humane? Why care about human suffering? 1 billion people in the world are going hungry according to the United Nations. More than 100 million people worldwide are homeless. Those are huge numbers.

If you ask me, the United States hasn't done enough to help in Haiti. 100 million dollars in aid from the richest country in the world is a drop in the water, especially when it has just been estimated that it's going to take ten years to rebuild in Haiti, especially if we're going to do it right.

We need to do more for Haiti because it is our responsibility to do so. If we don't do it, no one else will. When it comes to wars in other countries, I don't typically follow that sentiment. "We have to do it because no one else will." Bullshit. The United States has a history of going to war when and only when it benefits us. But the situation is directly tied to the history of our country. These people can't help themselves and their government is in such a shambles now that they couldn't help anyone even if they had the money to do it. So it falls to us as a country and it falls to the American people to stand up and be just and do something for someone else for a change. Something that doesn't involve being a pompous, racist, nationalistic moron who can't tell their ass from their elbow.

Don't believe the people in Haiti need our money more than we do? Go read these stories:

"In Haiti, mental aftershocks could be far-reaching" - Elizabeth Landau, CNN

"Too Little Too Late for Haiti? Six Sobering Points" - Bill Quigley, The Huffington Post

"Haiti's Elderly: What About Them?" - Julia Moulden, The Huffington Post

"Adopt-a-Gran: Haiti" - Help the Aged Canada