Paranoia or People
By Chrissy Heaslet
2/25/2010
Chrissy blogs regularly as CHaze at http://chaze77.wordpress.com
By now, the entire planet is aware of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010. Almost immediately their cries for help were heard. President Obama, on January 15, pledged to send $100 million in aid on behalf of the United States. In a most emotional statement, Obama spoke to the people of Haiti, saying, “You will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you”.
While any effort to help those in need should be applauded, the disaster in Haiti has become another disappointing example of missed opportunity. The United States was given the chance to do something great for a nation in need, but instead chose mediocrity. While no one can argue that $100 million is a lot of money, when put into perspective, it becomes obvious that America’s priorities are out of balance. The U.S. Department of Defense, for example, has an annual budget of $7.5 billion to spend on its missile defense program. This program is designed to prepare America to defend itself, should a missile reach its shores during a military attack by a foreign entity. It is a massive, money draining department within the U.S. government that deals solely in hypothetical scenarios.
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On February 2, 2010, on the heels of a report claiming that Tehran had capabilities to launch a missile from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, the U.S. conducted a missile test intending to simulate a strike from Iran. The test not only failed, but it cost an astounding $150 million to conduct. In short, the government wasted an astronomical sum of money in an attempt to determine how the military would defend the nation, should it find itself under attack by a country that currently does not possess the ability to attack it.
Bearing this in mind, it is easy to see that the U.S. has a problem in determining the differences between reality and perceived threats. The reality is that more than half a million people have died to-date in Haiti as a result of last month’s earthquake- and the death toll is still rising. The reality is that more than a million people have been displaced; they are homeless, and they are hungry. The annual rains will descend on Haiti within months, as will hurricane season. Iran launching missiles into U.S. territory, in contrast, is not reality.
Haiti, much like Katrina-ravaged Louisiana in 2005, was in desperate trouble well before the earthquake that devastated the nation. While the U.S. was spending tens of billions of dollars a year on technology that to this day still doesn’t work properly, in hopes of protecting the nation against threats that do not even exist, the people of Haiti needed help. Haiti, with one of the most corrupt governments in the world, also has staggering poverty, little access to healthcare, and the largest orphan population (per capita) on the planet. That was before the quake- and ensuing disaster- struck. Haiti, perhaps the most impoverished of America’s neighboring nations, has been all-but ignored. The United States has allowed its unfounded fear and paranoia of Iran and North Korea to take precedence over assisting fellow humans in need- people who live a mere 500 miles away.
Dr. Martin Luther King famously said it best in 1967, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death.” The quote is as timely today as it was 43 years ago. As February draws to an end, along with Black History Month, it is appropriate to reevaluate the priorities of this great nation. It is time to gain perspective, let go of paranoid fears, and work towards a more peaceful reality.