Help Haiti and Hope for Less Greed
Diandra Garcia
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Opinion
DIANDRA GARCIA
Opinion Editor
On Jan 25, the Organization of Latin America Students (OLAS) held a fundraising event, Footsteps for Haiti. It raised a noteworthy $700 from Pace student donations-either paying their shoe size as admission or donating five water bottles. It included live airing of MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, CNN video coverage of the relief, live performances, music, and raffle.
As a global community we are very much aware of the profound devastation that the 7.0 earthquake had on Haiti and their death toll rising. I think it was a very responsible act on behalf of OLAS and the Pace community to sponsor this event. The Students of Caribbean Awareness (SOCA) took part in Haiti history presentations to educate those who did not know about Haiti.
A few days before the catastrophe, I remember posting a Facebook status comment-essentially complaining about the economic rut America has fallen into. It read something like this: "(Jay Williams, current Chicago Bulls basketball player) with the gun scandal earns $6 million. Didn't even know about him prior to the scandal. REALLY? This means that the actual well-known athletes earn a zillion more than that. This means that they, including other celebrities, can fix the economy RIGHT NOW if they wanted to. This means there could be no more homeless, no more RECESSION, no more debt to China & they'll STILL have more than enough money left over."
Then Haiti happened. And I proved myself right. The Haiti Telethon, alone, that incorporated many celebrity contributions raised an estimated $61 million on that day, according to ABCnews.com (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9660750). And as a nation, we raised millions more since.
A student I spoke with at Footsteps to Haiti whispered that she was only there to support the musical performances that were going to take place-"We have our own problems in America," she said.
Yes, we do have our own problems to deal with.
"But we are a global community after all," sophomore, Tammy Mora replied.
This event and the knowledge that many other countries around the world are helping in one poor country's relief, gives me great hope.
We can make a difference. We can fix the rut we are in, if we tried. If we are doing it for another nation, we can surely do it for ourselves. However, I am speaking idealistically. After all, greed is to blame for the situation we are in. It's a shame that it has to take a tragedy like Haiti to realize that we don't have to be so greedy.
Diandra Garcia can be reached at dg85810n@pace.edu
Opinion Editor
On Jan 25, the Organization of Latin America Students (OLAS) held a fundraising event, Footsteps for Haiti. It raised a noteworthy $700 from Pace student donations-either paying their shoe size as admission or donating five water bottles. It included live airing of MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, CNN video coverage of the relief, live performances, music, and raffle.
As a global community we are very much aware of the profound devastation that the 7.0 earthquake had on Haiti and their death toll rising. I think it was a very responsible act on behalf of OLAS and the Pace community to sponsor this event. The Students of Caribbean Awareness (SOCA) took part in Haiti history presentations to educate those who did not know about Haiti.
A few days before the catastrophe, I remember posting a Facebook status comment-essentially complaining about the economic rut America has fallen into. It read something like this: "(Jay Williams, current Chicago Bulls basketball player) with the gun scandal earns $6 million. Didn't even know about him prior to the scandal. REALLY? This means that the actual well-known athletes earn a zillion more than that. This means that they, including other celebrities, can fix the economy RIGHT NOW if they wanted to. This means there could be no more homeless, no more RECESSION, no more debt to China & they'll STILL have more than enough money left over."
Then Haiti happened. And I proved myself right. The Haiti Telethon, alone, that incorporated many celebrity contributions raised an estimated $61 million on that day, according to ABCnews.com (http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9660750). And as a nation, we raised millions more since.
A student I spoke with at Footsteps to Haiti whispered that she was only there to support the musical performances that were going to take place-"We have our own problems in America," she said.
Yes, we do have our own problems to deal with.
"But we are a global community after all," sophomore, Tammy Mora replied.
This event and the knowledge that many other countries around the world are helping in one poor country's relief, gives me great hope.
We can make a difference. We can fix the rut we are in, if we tried. If we are doing it for another nation, we can surely do it for ourselves. However, I am speaking idealistically. After all, greed is to blame for the situation we are in. It's a shame that it has to take a tragedy like Haiti to realize that we don't have to be so greedy.
Diandra Garcia can be reached at dg85810n@pace.edu
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