Buy Camel Gear
Buy Your 2011 Yearbook
Antonia Wilburn, Staff Writer
Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment – yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 T.V. stations
This message was sent out on several different occasions to Americans all across the United States. It was posted on Facebook and forwarded through text message. In the heartbeat of this message speaks the voice of every American affected by the unfortunate state of the economy. But this message can’t speak for everyone.
“I think America sucks,” voiced junior Briana Keller about the recent aid from the U.S. to Haiti. “Maybe we should be trying to do more work here, like fixing our economy.”
Dominic Carnahan, a junior from Poinciana High School in Florida suggested, “We should help, but we should look at our own country and see who needs help here.”
“I think it might be a bad idea [to help],” said Brandon Sterken, a freshman from Sage Valley Junior High, “but we should try to get other countries to help too.”
Senior Justin Chapman stated, “It doesn’t matter how we are doing here; the people over there need our help and we should help them regardless of our economy’s state.”
In agreement to Chapman’s statement, senior Sean Allen, said, “The economy may be bad, but they have nothing. We’re still better off than they are. I think it’s good we’re trying to help them.”
“Those people need our help no matter what,” declared Newcastle resident Penny Vielhauer.
Keith Aipperspach, a local parent of a CCHS student and Gillette resident, wasn’t happy with the thought of our country helping Haiti. “America’s always running out to help everyone, but you don’t see people like Haiti coming to help us.”
Clearly, the earthquake has not just affected the meager families and individuals of Haiti, but it has more than upset the American people as well.
As a world power, America has made it an obligation to take care of other countries by showing them our prosperity over their poverties, and yet it has become difficult for us to solve our own problems. Maybe the American hostility and bitterness toward the situation in Haiti is a wake up call. Maybe it’s time to bring together the people of our own country. Maybe it’s time to help America.
2 comments
Kayla oller says:
February 17, 2010 at 11:49 pm (UTC -7 )
Hey girl nice job once again this article was awsome cause the people needed to here opinions on this !!
Chris Allen says:
March 15, 2010 at 11:24 am (UTC -7 )
Obviously, the people who say America “sucks” have no idea how good they have it. And to the message you reference above, there are plenty of countries with “homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment.” Try going anywhere outside the states, and see how common these things are.
I admit, once everyone is pulled from the wreckage, clean water is set up, and so on, America should probably see itself out. Unfortunately, Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, if not the poorest. They have NOTHING.
Consider the good Samaritan story. The Samaritan who helped the other guy probably had places to go and things to do, but he stopped anyways and helped his fellow man.
It sickens me today that we have forgotten about service to others. Thank heavens for my years in the Boy Scouts, which taught me just that.
Pardon my ranting, but it had to be done.