Only tragedies can make us care

It is nearing two months since the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti and shook the change out of everyone’s pockets. The Haiti relief fund — we’ve all heard the phrase. Many of us even spared whatever change we had lingering in our pockets after our morning coffee.

It is also likely that you gave your extra lunch money when the tsunami hit the coast of Indonesia in 2004. Have you ever donated to Liberia or Congo, two of the world’s poorest countries out of the goodness of your heart, not because there was a natural disaster being flashed on the television every five seconds?

Probably not. This is not necessarily a bad thing, yet what does it say about our sense of charity? By no means are we too selfish as a society to donate our spare money. According to Wikipedia, Canada has donated over $135 million dollars to Haiti. On the other hand, searching the World Wide Web for donations to Congo: Zip.

Perhaps the real reason is our ignorance.

North Americans have become desensitized to the idea of a developing country. Not only do we know too little about countries facing financial hardship, human rights abuses and political chaos, the majority of us don’t want to face the harsh realities.

We watch bored-faced as emaciated children stare through the screen at us and do nothing. Yet we become enthralled with the cause after the latest natural disaster.

There have been fundraisers for Haiti on a small scale, such as the ones here on campus, and a large scale, like Wyclef Jean’s events for his Yele Haiti foundation.

There are only a handful of celebrities that donate money to developing countries on a regular basis, but dozens have now flocked to share their fortunes with the damaged nation. It seems that celebrities are the first to respond to a disaster, offering millions of dollars to regions hit by a crisis while the rest of us common folk follow suit, donating on a smaller scale proportional to our income.

At times, the option of where to donate could be overwhelming. What causes this drive?

Are we using these natural disasters as the push we need to help countries so far impoverished we didn’t know where to start? Is this giving the donors too much credit? Perhaps we need to reconsider our charitable priorities and donate to countries in need before they are flattened by a catastrophe.

Cartoon by: Alyssa Ouellette