250 words written: January 21 & 26, 2010
by Brandon L. Rucker
The sound-bites linger in my mind as images of people suffering flickers across my flat-screen TV, or my flat-panel monitor, or the smaller screen of my smart phone. The horror is clear and repulsive no matter the visual resolution of the display. And the headlines tick on like minutes evaporating from the hour.
Haiti rocked by a 7.0 earthquake.
Survivors seek solace in their faith.
Roughly two million are now homeless.
Aftershocks register at 5.9 and 6.1 in magnitude.
Wounded children are calling for their missing parents.
100,000 dead as rescue efforts get underway in Port-au-Prince.
With no safer alternative a desperate mother feeds urine to her infant child.
Makeshift camps set up by survivors will only fester disease as the countless injured remain untreated.
Pat Robertson says, in so many unintelligent words, that the people of Haiti deserve this because they had made a pact with the Devil.
This situation gets more insane, more inhumane and more nightmarish with every passing moment.
They call it Ground Zero, the heart of a disaster area. That’s where I want to be. As the mass graves fill at an alarming rate, doctors fear even more death. Will there be enough time?
I get my fill of sitting idle, watching, listening, weeping, cursing, praying and dying inside. It’s time to take action, there’s much work to be done.
Today the American Red Cross accepted my application to volunteer. It won’t be long before Haiti’s soil is underfoot while I lend a helping hand.
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Copyright © 2010 by Brandon L. Rucker
Lost Signal 