Notes In The Margin

I'm missing a lot of the story. Rick Hendrick, who is a NASCAR race driver and team owner, has apparently given generously to assist in evacuations and rescue operations in Haiti. Part of that was that he flew my sister and her kids home last night. They arrived just after midnight, and his organization paid for the whole thing, and gave to the relief effort at Quisqueya.

I might suddenly become a NASCAR fan. Go Jeff Gordon!

UPDATE

So, apparently the story is even more complicated than that. Mr. Hendrick, who also loaned his plane and flight crew to Katrina relief efforts, is flying people out of Haiti as fast as he can with his plane. The other flights - the rest of the way up here - were taken care of by other generous people.

The generosity that's being shown this week is amazing. I'm sure that recriminations for mismanagement will come later, but watching folks step up and do what they can, and even more folks step and do what they didn't know they could, is very encouraging.

Some of you may know that I have family in Haiti. They are unhurt. Tens of thousands of other people, however, are hurt, and many thousands are killed. Perhaps a million people are sleeping on the streets tonight because there are still aftershocks and they are afraid the remaining buildings will fall on them in the night.

My brother-in-law, who is a school headmaster, is now running an orphanage and a hospital - or, rather, the school is being used for these purposes because it is undamaged. The orphanage fell down, and all the kids were moved to the school. The hospitals are completely overwhelmed.

If you're looking for some place to give a few dollars in the hopes that they will be well-used, I would encourage you to read what is being done at that school, take a look at the school website, and consider giving via the paypal link at the bottom.

What has been accomplished in the last few days has been done by folks who have stepped up and done what they saw that needed to be done. Watching the news last night, I watched US Army folks talking about how they were doing nothing because they were waiting for someone else to make a decision. What happened to "The Buck Stops Here." It was infuriating and frustrating to watch hundreds of tons of food and water just sitting there because everyone was waiting for someone else.

Why the Bald Eagle is Bald. An original story by Isaiah Winter.

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Three years ago, during the election, a mob stormed the Hotel Montana, and, overcome by the beauty they found there, stayed to play. My sister wrote this:

Hotel Montana, by Ruth Hersey

...

And when we got in
You would hardly believe how beautiful it was.
There was a pool
Like the ocean but clean,
Blue like a huge Culligan bottle
How many buckets were carried on how many heads to fill that pool?
Maybe the angels did it.
And then I jumped in
And the water frothed with joy as we splashed it on each other
And some people reclined on heavenly deck chairs
And some explored the many mansions.

...

Today, the Hotel Montana is in ruins, as a result of yesterday's earthquake.

Ruth was, I think, going to re-post the entire poem this week. I retrieved it from backups of an old website she posted it on several years ago, since that was her only copy of it. But this week she's living in a soccer field, and doesn't have electricity or internet, so it may be a while before you get to read the whole thing.

My brother-in-law sent the following quick communique from Haiti this evening:

Quick message while I have email at a guest house. Most communication
is down. LIttle phone contact. No internet at school or home.

This is terrible. Spent last night outside on soccerfield with
family. We are OK. House is structurally OK, but a mess. School
will be closed indefinitely.

Dead bodies everywhere. I've contacted all but 6 teachers. Several
good friends are missing. Many big buildings collapsed. Hopefully
we'll get communications back soon.

Many teachers involved in search and rescue.

We are OK, but please keep us in your prayers.

Please pass on this email to family, etc.

He's the principal at a school in Port Au Prince.

It seems like Haiti can never get a break, and because things are so hard there, every disaster is that much harder to bear when it happens.