The little Haitian boy who greeted rescuers [after being trapped for 8 days] with a beaming grin as they freed him from a huge pile of rubble said yesterday, “I smiled because I was free — I smiled because I was alive.” Source. There was an earthquake in Minnesota this morning. It was pretty small – I don’t think it even registered on the Richter scale – in fact, I think it was localized just around our house. I was upstairs giving Jelly Bean her bath, despite her protestations that she is saving all that curdled milk in her neck folds for later, when two of her older brothers decided to start World War III over a solitary piece of K’nex (sadly, I suppose wars have been started over lesser things). There was a huge bang, the house shook and immediately I decided we were having an earthquake, never mind that Minnesota is the least earthquake prone place on the planet. What, don’t you all immediately assume a natural disaster is occurring when anything is amiss? No??
For a brief second, my mind raced trying to decide which child I would save first and if I would be able to find my cellphone in the rubble. Of course it wasn’t an earthquake, just my spawn. (In relating the incident later to my husband I said, “I think they’re evil.” To which he replied, “No dear, just malevolent.”) And then I paused and wondered if there was a mother in Haiti bathing her newborn when their earthquake hit. Five minutes prior I had been blissfully admiring my baby’s dimpled bum and writing today’s post in my head. (Have you seen what OK magazine did to Kourtney Kardashian?! They stuck her on the cover holding her brand-new son with the title “My diet secrets: lose 10 pounds in 10 days!” On wee problem: They photoshopped her head onto someone else’s skinny body and claimed she’d lost all her baby weight. For the love of new moms everywhere Kourtney set the record straight on Twitter both showing what she really looks like now – glowing and beautiful but not flat-tummied – and saying she has not lost all her weight yet. This is what we’ve come to: celeb rags now making up stories out of whole cloth! Who does this story make feel good? Not the readers who all immediately feel bad about not losing 10 pounds in 10 days regardless of the occupancy status of their womb. Certainly not Kourtney. Oh yes, it would be the people getting rich off of our insecurities. There, now you got the abbreviated version!)
And then suddenly I was hugging a soaking Jelly Bean to my chest and saying a prayer for every mother in Haiti.
That feeling was still fresh in my heart when I got an e-mail from a longtime reader turned dear friend, Dr. Jon. You may remember him as the doctor who personally vetted Dara Torres during the Olympic doping scandals. Or perhaps as the only person I’ve ever known to eat fugu, the fish that has a one in one thousand chance of killing you. When he’s not writing eloquent letters that I then selfishly purloin for use in my posts, he’s volunteering as a doctor doing humanitarian aid work. He has saved lives in almost every hotspot around the globe so even though he was supposed to be on vacation, when I first heard of the Haitian earthquake I had a feeling he’d find his way there. Sure enough, yesterday this arrived in my inbox:
[…] When you are amputating a leg, deep in the rubble of a collapsed building, having crawled and wormed your way in, dragging your medical kit with you, and an aftershock comes, you can’t help but duck in case the pile collapses – pretty pointless, but a normal reaction, I’m told – and traps you along with the casualty . It gnaws at you and saps energy and strength in a very different way to working in war zones, but the patient comes first and that’s just how it is . I’ll admit I’m very, very tired, but the job HAS to be done and we have the skill set to do it .
Kourtney Kardashian’s head on another woman’s body takes on a whole new meaning in this light doesn’t it? I have no words. God bless you in your mission Dr. Jon. Stay safe out there, ok? And write me when you get home.
For those of us who aren’t doctors, MSNBC has compiled a list of ways to help the earthquake victims and those providing on-the-ground support. And surprisingly donating money probably isn’t the best way to help at this time.
May all of you hold your loved ones a little tighter! Or at the very least, hold your celebrities a little farther away.
You couldn't be more right in feeling that the things we worry about pale in comparison to the suffering in the rest of the world.
I'm so impressed that your doctor friend is there- such a hero. I've seen him comment here all the time. What a saint- from all us mere mortals- thank you!
Indeed, I'm sure Dr. J is in all our thoughts/prayers. I can only hope that more doctors will follow in his footsteps…
The whole Haiti scene just breaks my heart. I knew a lot of Haitians when I lived in Montreal, and it pains me to think of what many of them are going through.
Hey, at least they didn't photoshop her baby, right?
I love this.
your last two lines are writingperfection, Charlotte.
Only you could link these topics together and make it seem so normal. You really are a great writer and have helped to remind me how very fortunate I am.
Deb & M – Dr. Jon and Dr. J are two different commenters! The former doesn't comment on my site but just e-mails me while the latter is the one you see so often around the blogosphere and writes the column for CalorieLab. Both docs are wonderful men whom I feel greatly privileged to know and interact with. And both have done volunteer work in Haiti (and other places) although to my knowledge Dr. J is not over there at this time. Just wanted to clarify!
KUrunner – Hahah! So true!! Although now that I think about it- how do we know they didn't?!
VAmomof2 and MizFit – thank you both for your kind compliments! Made my day:)
Look close at the Kardashian picture. They didn't put her head on someone else's body. They just chopped off her tummy and replaced her head for a slimmer pre-baby version. Of course, the dress color was changed too. Still ridiculous. But at least technically it's still her.
i definitely have to slow down and remind myself that my stresses (while important to me) are so where near as big as suffering in the rest of the world. every once in a while i need some perspective.
and i'm glad that kourtney decided to share pics of what she actually looks like (still looking good obvi). even knowing that most celebrity mags change the pics still does nothing to counter the knock-you-down effect and make you feel not so great
Thank you for this eloquent reminder about what is truly important, and what a waste most of our pointless worrying is.
Thanks for the how-to-help links, too, will check those out!
That photo of the Haitian boy being pulled from the rubble–while happy and hopeful–made me want to cry. If only we could all be as happy as him, even when we're not being saved from a near-death experience. It puts life's stresses into perspective.
Keeping things in perspective is one of my New Year's resolutions. Thanks for the perfect reminder!
No, dear. Just malevolent.
I like your husband 🙂
I have tremendous compassion for these people. So often we don't realize how good we have it even as bad as we feel sometimes. Not to negate our feelings but still. Pema Chodron uses the term "bourgeois suffering" and I have picked that "ball" up and ran with it whenever I hear folks complain that they can't find a parking space or their food is cold.
Thanks for the helping links! Am checking them out.
Some much-needed perspective-THANK YOU!!!!
And blessings and love to Dr. Jon. Plus prayers for a safe return, added to our prayers for everyone in Haiti.
I hear a noise and shudder like that and wonder if trees are falling near, at, or on my house.
Thx for this "put it in perspective" post. I was all in a tizzy about one of those Kardashians actually getting to meet President Obama & all the other nobody celebs making money doing nothing like Heidi * Spencer.. well, Heidi is doing lots of plastic surgery in the name of God as she says…
See, I digress! Gets me crazy! Thank you for this great post!
Thank you for putting it all in perspective for me. Sometimes I get so bogged down in self-absorption I forget to look outside my little life to the human condition in the world. Bless those mothers in Haiti whose empty arms are aching tonight.
Amen. We all need reminders, now and then, to get some perspective. Thanks for the beautiful picture.
cammi99
Very well said, Charlotte! We all need an occasional reality check. I love the photo of that Haitian boy being freed – he looks so happy. (And the rescuer imitating his movement – that looks totally spontaneous to me, and made me smile.)
Like your site. My thanks for posting that. I will definitely check again to see what’s new and recommend my coworkers about your posting.