I don't know but I do know what many people, businesses, organizations and governments are: they are helping.
As I watched Hope For Haiti on January 22nd, I was taken by how we, as a people, mobilize every time there is a disaster. I was also taken by the amazing performances that took place all night. Singer after singer gave one of the best performances of their careers; simple and heartfelt. I have never been a Justin Timberlake fan but watching him sing with Matt Morris Hallelujah, I was blown away. His performance was just of great depth and sincerity.
Performers, without any big sets or costumes, just stood on a stage and delivered something from the heart that I'm sure touched everyone watching. It was a night of amazing simple beauty and I hope these talented people remember how effective they were by just singing from within and trusting they have something to give and share.
I hope that we as a people also remember how it felt to come together and help, and how it felt to be part of a world community that cares. And I also hope we can continue to do that without having to wait for another crisis to remember to care for each other.
Now going back to Osama and his peeps, they are certainly not helping Haiti. They are too busy killing and maiming others in the name of god. He continues to believe that his Muslim world is being poisoned and desecrated by infidels (read: us) and has found plenty of firebrand clerics to offer Quranic backing for his belief that terrorism is glorious and that all methods of war are justified in the battle against the infidels. So he's probably thinking, just like Pat Robertson (read: lunatics) that god gave the Haitians what they deserved.
We live in a world that is full of discord caused by poverty, dictatorship, and terrorism. Maybe if we, the people that have more stable governments and economies, could show compassion as part of our daily lives and truly show interest in being a part of the world community, maybe people like Bin Laden would have a harder time portraying us as evil.
I'm not being naïve and recognize that part of being human is to have a certain level of selfishness; my home, my money, my family, and that is okay, we just need to add the caring part a little bit more.
So my hat is off to Shakira, Wyclef Jean, Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Coldplay, Rihanna, U2 and all singers for their incredible performance as well as all the actors and directors answering the phones and mostly all of us that showed up and gave money.
If we can pull together such an effort in only ten days, imagine what we could do if each one of us spent 10 minutes a day doing something for someone else. It is in my opinion an idea worth pursuing.