One of my favorite movie quotes comes from the 1984 John Carpenter film Starman. The film starred Jeff Bridges (who’s getting a lot of positive buzz over his role in the new film Crazy Heart) as an alien crashlanded on Earth who takes on the form of a human. He says that what he finds most beautiful about human beings is “You are at your best when things are worst.” As I’ve watched the coverage of the horrific events unfolding in Haiti in the aftermath of last week’s earthquake, those words keep coming back to me.

One could make the argument that humans can be at their worst in the midst of the kind of chaos we’ve seen and heard about in that poor country (looting, armed men trying to break into orphanages where they believe there is food and water to be stolen). While it is true that despair and desperation might lead some to act purely in their own interests, the majority of reports indicate that individuals there have behaved heroically in digging out survivors and tending to the injured, homeless and shell-shocked.

Clearly, the desire to help has been felt by people all over the world who are far removed from the situation. Surely if the physical barriers that have prevented supplies and aid workers from getting to those who need help the most could have been dissolved by the prayers and good wishes of all of us watching the tragedy from afar, Haiti and her people would already be far on the road to recovery. However, the reality of a country with little infrastructure and resources before the earthquake and now decimated in its aftermath means that we must watch as help trickles in in the face of frustrating delays.

It is clear, though, that many are reaching out to help in ways large and small. Last night I watched some of the Hope for Haiti Now telethon, which is expected to bring in millions of dollars to several of the aid organizations leading the charge. The night before, on a local level, several bands from our area held a benefit concert and requested a minimum donation of $10. Even on a weeknight on short notice and in an area which has experienced steep job losses in the last year, they raised between 14 and 15 thousand dollars for the American Red Cross.  

Global Traveler‘s current issue of our online newsletter, eFlyer, leads with a story detailing a number of travel industry companies who are donating supplies, cargo delivery, flights, miles and corporate matching funds of employee and customer cash donations (click here to read the story and find a list of organizations ready to accept your donation). The Carnival Corporation (encompassing cruise lines such as Holland America Line, Princess, Carnival, Cunard, Costa and Seabourn) has pledged a minimum donation of 5 million dollars to a collection of international aid organizations, but I am equally impressed by the generosity of the students who attend Green Lake Elementary School in Seattle, where my niece teaches second grade. In five days the 264 students there raised over $2,000 for UNICEF and Americares in a penny drive. That kind of response has been repeated all over the country — and the world — in schools and churches and businesses large and small. 

Yes, it would be easy enough to ignore the unbelievable suffering and need in a place far from our own comfortable lives — if we were less than the kind of human beings which the alien creature in Starman admired. Thankfully, most of us (and especially those, like most GT readers, who have traveled and experienced how bound and alike we are to each other) respond with open and generous hearts when things are at their worst, no matter how distant the pain and suffering may be.

— Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader