Tsunami Relief
We are a month out from the post-Christmas tsunami and I have a tirade on my mind.
I have missed a lot of the most stunning images because, among other things, my TV is on the fritz. I am a big enough sicko to think "Oooh COOL! Really intense forces of nature. Cool!" So part of me would really love to look at some of those pictures, and I really dig all the stories about all the geologists and scientists running around gathering samples and data.
I also have enough human queasiness not to need to see EVERYTHING, and I hope the data gathering includes interviews as well as rock samples!
Here's my thing though: I wanted to send money to contribute to relief efforts. I finally even have some money. This is a long story and it deserves its own tirade. The question is who to give money to.
I do not pretend to be a paragon of well-informed decisionmaking, but pretty much it was either going to be the Red Cross or Oxfam. Both are solid with international credibility. I am sure I could find beefs with both of them. So why did I pick Oxfam?
After 9/11, I was REALLY peeved, and not only about the stunning horrors and losses. There were Red Cross donations everywhere. There were round up coupons at the grocery store, checkoffs at the latte shop, cans at the gas station. The laundromat, the bookstore, the office supplies store, the department store, almost anywhere I wanted to wink or blink or spend money or click on a web link or perform acts of personal hygiene or sit or spit I could make a donation to the Red Cross.
So what happened? The American Red Cross raised SO MUCH MONEY that they had more than they really needed for 9/11 relief. The Red Cross sensibly wanted to put some of it aside for future disasters. At least, I would think that would be very sensible and prudent. I am unclear how the possibility that donated funds might go for other operations got spun so infelicitously!
In any case, the poor overwhelmed shell-shocked wounded American masses were so upset about these foreigners having the audacity to attack in the ways they did that these American masses forgot about other terrible possibilities like killer hurricanes (Hello Global Warming), earthquakes, and once-in-a-millenium tsunamis.
There was such a hew and cry that every penny raised by the Red Cross right after 9/11 had to go to 9/11 relief! So now, America, where are you? The death toll from the tsunami disasters is headed toward 70 times the number killd in 9/11. The number of devastated survivors is also dozens of times the number directly affected by 9/11. Is America going to come up with anywhere near 70 times the donations raised after 9/11? ???
Is anyone else donating to alternative groups like I did because of the 9/11-related issues????
I have missed a lot of the most stunning images because, among other things, my TV is on the fritz. I am a big enough sicko to think "Oooh COOL! Really intense forces of nature. Cool!" So part of me would really love to look at some of those pictures, and I really dig all the stories about all the geologists and scientists running around gathering samples and data.
I also have enough human queasiness not to need to see EVERYTHING, and I hope the data gathering includes interviews as well as rock samples!
Here's my thing though: I wanted to send money to contribute to relief efforts. I finally even have some money. This is a long story and it deserves its own tirade. The question is who to give money to.
I do not pretend to be a paragon of well-informed decisionmaking, but pretty much it was either going to be the Red Cross or Oxfam. Both are solid with international credibility. I am sure I could find beefs with both of them. So why did I pick Oxfam?
After 9/11, I was REALLY peeved, and not only about the stunning horrors and losses. There were Red Cross donations everywhere. There were round up coupons at the grocery store, checkoffs at the latte shop, cans at the gas station. The laundromat, the bookstore, the office supplies store, the department store, almost anywhere I wanted to wink or blink or spend money or click on a web link or perform acts of personal hygiene or sit or spit I could make a donation to the Red Cross.
So what happened? The American Red Cross raised SO MUCH MONEY that they had more than they really needed for 9/11 relief. The Red Cross sensibly wanted to put some of it aside for future disasters. At least, I would think that would be very sensible and prudent. I am unclear how the possibility that donated funds might go for other operations got spun so infelicitously!
In any case, the poor overwhelmed shell-shocked wounded American masses were so upset about these foreigners having the audacity to attack in the ways they did that these American masses forgot about other terrible possibilities like killer hurricanes (Hello Global Warming), earthquakes, and once-in-a-millenium tsunamis.
There was such a hew and cry that every penny raised by the Red Cross right after 9/11 had to go to 9/11 relief! So now, America, where are you? The death toll from the tsunami disasters is headed toward 70 times the number killd in 9/11. The number of devastated survivors is also dozens of times the number directly affected by 9/11. Is America going to come up with anywhere near 70 times the donations raised after 9/11? ???
Is anyone else donating to alternative groups like I did because of the 9/11-related issues????
posted by DoreneC at 10:09 PM
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