Helping others before you help yourself?

[Deuce]

Ok I'm sure I'll catch some heat on this one but fuck it. Now I know what happened in Haiti was a tragedy, but I don't understand why in the hell the US is so quick to jump to help every other country in need, yet we can't fix our own damn problems. For instance, unemployment is still at an all time high, people are still losing their homes, the school systems in this country are ridiculous and the economy still ain't shit. I mean I understand charities and all that stuff, but sending troops down there that our tax dollars pay for? The response for Katrina wasn't even that damn quick. I dunno that shit just kinda pisses me off. To know that as a country, we have so much shit to fix here, but nobody pays attention to that. I'm almost positive that we'll spend millions of dollars to help them out while we still suffer as a country.

Just my thoughts. What do you guys think?

[The God of War]

Honestly, I agree with you on this one. It bears mentioning that America is a me first country. I will say, that in Haiti's case, a majority of the people are truly down there to help in some way. Then you have the me first people. They will donate or brag about something they have done, really missing the point of humility and generosity. You will definitely know the me first personalities... they will be in the media somewhere, somehow...

And it's very true. I agree with helping yourself before another, but the problem that lies within that thinking is that everyone is broken in some way, so who would really get help if they actually needed it?

That's why I have to focus on me, but not take away from anyone else's problems or issues.

[MiMi]

I agree I've said the same thing since the earthquake. Not saying don't help but damn its ppl over here who could use some help. And where the fuck they get the money from?

[his drug of choice]

I can see your point, and I did have this discussion with one of my homeboys. However, even though we have a lot to fix over here, we are still nowhere near as devastated as they are (or have been). I mean, when even the President of a country doesn't know where they'll be sleeping at night, you know shit is fucked up.

As for Katrina...we already know who to blame for that catastrophe and response time. *smh* The new "powers that be" have learned from past mistakes, and don't plan on making any more...hopefully.

[Phategod1]

I can see your point, and I did have this discussion with one of my homeboys. However, even though we have a lot to fix over here, we are still nowhere near as devastated as they are (or have been). I mean, when even the President of a country doesn't know where they'll be sleeping at night, you know shit is fucked up.

As for Katrina...we already know who to blame for that catastrophe and response time. *smh* The new "powers that be" have learned from past mistakes, and don't plan on making any more...hopefully.
QFT beside we know who was in control when Katrina hit so we have a clue why FEMA and other was slow to get things done.

[SchlongstaJ]

In the case of Haiti, it would have been real fucked up for the U.S. to be so close and not help. Even just airdropping some water and supplies real quick-like.

[Deuce]

I looked at some of the pictures from Haiti and yeah they're fucked up over there. Pretty sad...Yeah they do need A LOT of help.

[Da Eman]

Alright i definitely gotta chime in, being Haitian american and all... So there's a major thing that we all have to take into consideration with this situation. What we call a "recession" here is still paradise for those in Haiti. The ghetto's here are like the suburbs down there. (and those are the good parts of haiti too.)

The comparison you made with our own problems (unemployment, losing homes, etc...) It's like Paris Hilton saying, "I just lost 5 million dollars and can't find work"...We all know that she'll be alright.

Despite America's troubles we're still WAAAAYYYY better off than still many other countries. Our problems are all relative to only us. No other countries are looking at us like "oh poor America and their recession"

One thing we can look at is the fact that, for those that can't work, we still have a system that pays you while you're not working. When you're in Haiti for example, if you can't find work, there is no functional system to help you in the same capacity as our welfare and unemployment helps us.

I don't mean to come down on anyone, but I do recognize some of the positives from this tragedy.
1.) We can finally realize that despite our own countries troubles there are others that are still worse off than us.
2.) We learned our lesson from Katrina. America isn't perfect but at least we learn from our past mistakes. Before when Katrina hit, it took our government like 3-5 days to even move a muscle. Once the earthquake hit Haiti, there was a response in less than 3 hours.
3.) The world as come together in a way like never before. China, Canada, Russia, the US and more have come to the aid of Haiti. Keep in mind, a week before this happened, many people probably never even heard of the island in the first place. It's been in bad shape for decades, and now with this attention there's a chance it may get better.