On a rather serious note

By now, all of you are surely aware of the disastrous earthquake that took place in Haiti nearly six days ago. Although help arrived almost immediately, the whole country is still in chaos - stores are being looted, people are dying, and fights are breaking out over food and supplies everywhere. If there is ever a time to lend a hand, it would be now. I just read articles in the Washington Post about everything, and its really very tragic and we should help out in any way possible. Some people are saying that we only pay attention to situations like this when disaster strikes, but of course that is true! The world bonds together to lend a hand whenever something like this happens - it happened in 2006 when the tsunami struck Southeast Asia, and it happened last year when the great earthquake struck China.

I've definitely been more aware of the world around me over the last few days, and just sort of how fragile everything around us is. In Haiti, within a moment, hundreds of thousands of people lost everything - their homes, valuables, families. Today, my cousin's best friend is dying of Ewing's Sarcoma, a type of bone cancer that has now spread to her lungs. My family and friends are all trying to help by collecting money for her, but no one really knows whether we will get enough it in time to help her. Her treatment alone is going to cost nearly $20,000, and her family desperately needs help. On another hand, an acquaintance's father is dying of multiple organ failure, and has been given less than 48 hours to live. I hardly know the family, but I can't help but feel for them. Their daughter is my age, and their son just a few years younger. I cannot imagine what it would be like to see my own father so weakened and on his death bed, being hardly 50 years old.

But through all this, I've certainly learned my lesson - health and family are far more important than any riches in the world. Of course, I'm not a saint, and neither is any one else. Of course, we all have our lusts and wants and needs. As a woman, of course I spend long periods of times lusting over shoes, clothes, jewelry, and other luxurious things. We can't help that - wanting more is just human nature. But, more than that, family and health are of utmost importance, because at any given moment, something could go horribly wrong.

My extended family right now is divided almost in half - and neither half is on speaking terms. There have been false accusations and nasty things said, and so very many opportunities to put it all behind us and patch up, but no one seems up to it. Several years ago, when my uncle suddenly passed away from small cell carcinoma, we all learned that life wasn't constant, but now all of that seems to be forgotten. I just wish that at least my family - the people that I grew up with - would grow up a little and stop being so petty.

Sorry for this great big rant, but I needed to get it out of my system.

~ Undercover Diva