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When Humanity Is Your Only Light
By John Burnett
It’s not easy to describe what was seen, heard, and smelt in Haiti. After the earthquake, all of us were moved so rapidly into a world that was and is simply incomprehensible. A place where life is constantly at risk, total destruction is everywhere, and incredible pain eats at everyone around you. Certain memories remain so vivid in my mind. Spending that first long evening under the stars in a walled parking lot, a small handful of peacekeepers standing watch, never knowing what the morning might bring. I remember looking up at the stars, thinking – hoping – that as long as I could see them, there would not be any rain and all the wreckage that would flow from it. I remember the constant shaking of the earth throughout the night from the aftershocks, with a frequency making one think this is the way the world has always been. I remember seeing the initial cloud of dust rising from the city around us as buildings collapsed, and then the faint glow of distant fires burning into the evening sky. I remember that deafening silence of the night, broken by the anguished cries of a woman overwhelmed by the loss of her husband. Those were the first few hours. We left two days later.
I could write on and on like this, but words do not do it justice. But there is another vivid memory burned in my mind, which is equally difficult to express. It is the response of so many to the destruction around us. It is the memory of the incredible humanity, stepping forward in ways previously unimaginable. Helping strangers simply because it was needed, asking nothing in return. A humanity understanding that we were all in this together. Where despite, or perhaps because of, the overwhelming force of the earthquake and all it wrought, we were shaken into a truer sense of who we all were inside, with a simplicity of purpose defined only by the need to help one another however we could.
Starting with my friends, I can only say this. I have never been so proud to be associated with such incredible individuals. Gabrielle Apollon, Annika Allman, Megan Rapp, Gerald Stang, and James Taylor. Each of them reacting in the only way they could, with a vigilance and reason to protect life however they might. From the initial fearless charge to pull people trapped under rubble, to extending love to those who were injured and alone. Every minute we were there. There can be no hesitations, or qualifications, about what my friends did in the first 48 hours after the earthquake. It was simple; they did everything they possibly could to help, and then some.
Our leader, our rock, will always be Professor Elisabeth Lindenmayer. I won’t ever fully know what she felt and all she did to help us. When I am asked how we were evacuated so quickly, I can only answer that it was because of her. Yet while I feel intense sadness seeing the names and faces of those we met who were less fortunate than us, I can only think that for her these were friends and colleagues forged over an extensive career. None of us will ever forget your courage and direction in bringing us safely home, nor could we.
While we are back home, life continues, such as it is, for the people of Haiti. I caught only a small glimpse of Haiti’s soul, but it is filled with such strength and solidarity that will help her carry on. In a place where the external destruction is the inverse of the inner force of the people, there will always be possibilities. On an island at the origins of the New World, where the promise and anguish of the Americas have always coexisted, the current torment will also yield once again to the frontier of hope.
There are many of us here, now, who want to help. My only suggestion is to listen, rather than tell, what is needed. To know your own strengths and limitations, and to never lose sight of why you want to help. You may do something now, such as raising funds or collecting essential supplies, or you may help ten years from now. But whatever you do, never forget that the human spirit is at its fullest when we can look each other in the heart, and know that we share the same inner light, burning brightly in a vast universe.