Reflections on Compassion and Haiti

This short, thoughtful article on responding to the devastation in Haiti was posted on the 99NamesPeaceProject.org website and shared on facebook by the Fetzer Institute:

"David Addiss, Senior Program Officer at the Fetzer Institute spent years working in Haiti for the CDC. He writes about compassion and the spiritual resources necessary to move through tragedy."
Read below or here's the link http://www.99namespeaceproject.org/?p=641

Reflections on Compassion and Haiti
by David Addiss

I’ve been thinking a lot about compassion lately. The devastating earthquake in Haiti last week killed tens of thousands of people, among them friends with whom I have worked, worshipped, rejoiced, and struggled to improve public health. One feels profoundly helpless and powerless in the face of such massive destruction, the lack of adequate infrastructure for the rescue efforts, and the immensity of human suffering that is Haiti today.

Yet in the midst of all this, I’ve been deeply touched by the way so many people have come together to express compassion for the Haitian people – and to support each other. Expressions of solidarity and concern have come in phone calls, notes, and emails. A vast network of support has discovered itself and is reaching out with compassion. This “great cloud of witnesses” is comprised of Haitian colleagues, scientists, US government officials, relief workers, students, missionaries – and old friends who haven’t been in touch for years, among others. Some of the most moving, articulate, and immediate statements of compassion that I’ve seen, reinforced by generous gifts of tangible resources, have been offered by those who would quickly distance themselves from anyone who might label them as exemplars of compassion. They eschew undue personal attention and prefer not to “yelp” about their compassionate actions.

What form does compassion take in the face of such tragedy? If we choose to “suffer with” the Haitian people in this dark hour, what is required of us? In the first few hours after the earthquake struck, compassion meant providing first aid and mobilizing heavy equipment to try to rescue many still trapped beneath the rubble. Compassion meant competence, organization, resources, and technology – skillfully and efficiently applied. For most of us who have neither the skills nor the training to provide frontline assistance in Haiti, compassion can be expressed through donations of money to organizations that can make a difference; through public and private expressions of solidarity and sorrow; through supporting each other emotionally; and through sincerely engaging this question in the days ahead: “What does compassion require – here and now?” This is a question not only for us as individuals, but also, ultimately, for us as a country.

Reporting on the night of the earthquake in Haiti, an Associated Press writer noted that Haitians who survived the initial event in Port au Prince gathered in public squares and “sang hymns.” My Haitian colleagues report how, after the earthquake, the soccer field behind the hospital where I used to work became a campground for nearby residents, and how people gather to sing, pray, testify, and connect with each other every morning and night. Dr. William Vendley, of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, speaks of “spiritual resources” – those upon which people draw when there is nothing else. How might these be better understood, nurtured, expressed? What enables those who have lost everything to reach out in compassion to their neighbors? We can learn much about compassion from our brothers and sisters in Haiti, and from those who suffer in similar circumstances.

Dear Reader: What compassionate acts are being called through you?

**David spent nearly two decades of his career in public health with the Centers for Disease Control working with the people of Haiti. His position as a Medical Epidemiologist in the area of Neglected Tropical Diseases often placed him in the heart of Leogane where so much destruction has occurred since Tuesday.