Reaching for Her Mère
By The Rev. F. M. “Buddy” Stallings
I had to make myself watch the continuing reports from Haiti this weekend. Beginning to think that we have seen enough and moving on, while perfectly understandable, is perilous not only to the victims of the earthquake but to us as well. Crying “overload” because it hurts to watch will not well serve our souls. Before ending the evening, I watched an exchange between a doctor and a beautiful little ten year-old girl, who was being told that amputating her leg was the only way she could live. As her mother and she began to understand the English words translated into French, both began to cry, the little girl increasingly inconsolable, reaching for her Mère.
One reporter observed that Haiti would become a country of amputees. At that word I had had enough. Having worked in the third world years ago, I recall what life for an amputee, for any seriously handicapped person, is like. No picnic anywhere, in places like Haiti it is a guarantee of a life of misery, even more misery than usual. Amazingly and somewhat disturbingly, I went to sleep.
What are we to do? Pray? Well, of course. But truly that is just not enough. In fact, the most beautifully written petition in the Prayers of the People is by itself pretty lame. Feeling the impotency of “just” praying, I had a conversation with a friend about going to Haiti to help. A lovely but ridiculous impulse, I’d be largely useless in a country that needs medical attention and rebuilding, neither being exactly in my skill set. I need to stay home, pray, and send money. And the check I wrote yesterday isn’t nearly enough.
“Weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.” The psalmist’s words pricked my consciousness as I awoke today. But regardless the hour, it is not yet truly morning in Haiti and may not be for many, many days to come. For the night’s weeping there to be transformed into the joy of morning, we need to give and to give as generously as we can. My vehicle of choice, and the one I feel safest recommending is Episcopal Relief and Development. Go to ERD’s website, read of their work and make a donation.
The Rev. F. M. “Buddy” Stallings is Vicar of St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York, NY. Read his weekly Vicar’s Message HERE.
On view at the home page and above: Mother and Child by J. J. Luberisse, seen at ART Works for Haiti.