Why me?
I’m sure those two little words have been uttered by millions of unemployed people in this country just like me.
Why did I lose my job? What did I do to deserve this? Will I ever get another chance?
Why me?
As I sat on my leather couch, watching the Haiti Telethon, featuring two free hours of the top entertainers in the world on my big screen television, all I could think about is, why me?
What did I do to deserve a completely different life than those currently suffering from the earthquake in Haiti?
I understand that I was born in a country that has more than anyone else in the world.
I understand that I worked my rear-end off to gain all of the luxurious possessions that sit around me, from my wife to my children to my big screen television.
But why was I born into this life and more importantly, why did I have not have to suffer like the Haitian people?
I went to college in Northridge, California, the site of one of this country’s most famous temblors.
I lived a mile-and-a-half from the epicenter.
Actually, I had lived a mile-and-a-half from the epicenter, before moving 3,000 miles to the east just four months earlier.
Why me?
Why was I one of the lucky ones to avoid that disaster that claimed the lives of 61 people.
61 people! A terrible tragedy to say the least, but not on the same richter scale as the estimated 200,000 who will lose their life in Haiti.
The images, the pain, the destruction are things that cannot be put into words.
Television news has been accused many times, and many of them accurately, with sensationalizing the way stories are told.
In this situation, that is not possible.
The human life that has been lost by a group of people, who had very little to begin with, is something that none of us can truly relate to.
I am not ashamed of what I have.
I will not be turning in my car or moving into a concrete slab, like the ones that Haitians called home.
Like many of us, I too take for granted everything we have.
Tomorrow I will wait in line to pay $4 for a cup of coffee, demanding that they open another Starbucks across the street.
I will sit at a red light for 30 seconds, annoyed that it is not green.
I will lose my temper when my cell phone drops a call.
I truly wish that I would not lose sight of the luxuries that I enjoy every day.
Unfortunately, I will.
And you will too.
Because of the horrific nature of the photos and the emotional stories that we have seen, it may take a little longer than usual to forget about Haiti.
But I will.
And you will too.
I don’t go to bed at night wishing for pain and agony and I certainly have no regrets about what I have earned.
Like most of the unemployed, I do wish my life was different.
But if you can watch two seconds of what the Haitian people have endured, and not appreciate every single moment of your existence, you are not human.
Why me?
Thank God for me.
1 comment:
Of all your blog entries of yours that I have read this one hits home. I have never been unemployed; I have been in the Army since I was 17. So not much of a connection on that level.
I did not watch the Haiti Telethon - I was heading to Afghanistan and there was already too many things I wanted to do with my family and too many other claims on my time getting everything and everyone ready to go.
Every time I have to leave home for the Army, I miss some very simple things the most. Helping my three year old daughter put on her shoes or helping my wife clean the house or working in the yard. Its strange some of the things I miss. Really I think it's just the luxury of time and location to do those simple things. These thoughts always make me look forward to coming home -- and not leave ever again.
Every time I go to another country and acclimatize to their normal I realize that physical things like running water you can drink from the tap are not normal everywhere and that large families do live is small buildings. Standards of living are very different. What keeps us living like we do? Is is freedom and innovation? Is it debt that will come crashing down on us or our kids? Is it just a ghost of a bygone time when the world bought American cars and washing machines? These thoughts make me shiver as I can never find a clear answer.
And you are right, I do eventually forget about them... until the next time I have to go.
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