We Don't Know How Lucky We Are

30 November 1999

You will have all worked out by now that I am not really the sentimental type and bleeding hearts are for other people – not me. But I have to admit that all the news reports about the earthquake in Haiti have really affected me.

I know they are purposely designed to affect me and make me reach into my pocket, but I genuinely feel that we are so privileged in this country and we just don't realise it. A million people without homes, on one small island with no infrastructure, no electricity, no proper government or police and children running around with no parents. It is beyond the comprehension of most of us.

I wondered today how I might be able to relate this to my own job (that is what my blog is supposed to be about after all) and it occurred to me that we are all so concerned with improving our homes, so we can make some cash from them, that we forget the whole purpose of a home. A home is to bring up a family, to build relationships and memories and to encourage a feeling of security and warmth. I wonder how we would get on if suddenly in the space of two minutes everything you had worked so hard for was destroyed? Would all that equity be worthwhile then?

Then I thought about how these people are going to rebuild not only their buildings, but their lives. Yes, we can help them with building materials, skilled labour and monetary aid, but what about the psychological effect of seeing row upon row of dead bodies lined up outside a school? Perhaps simply the act of rebuilding homes will help.

We all see our home as a place to feel safe and warm. We make it that way. We get people like myself in to do the kitchen and bathroom, we fuss about with the furnishings and make the garden tidy and all so we can have that little bit of security and a place to call ours. I am hopeful that simply giving the people of Haiti a place they can call their own will give them back the security I am sure they have lost.

I hope my money goes to the right place and meets the needs of these people. But I guess we all know that this is going to be a long and slow process. The whole island needs to be rebuilt from scratch. For people who are too poor to have insurance, this isn't going to be an easy process.

If I could, I would volunteer my time to help rebuild their homes and maybe their lives. But as it happens I have my own family to worry about. But I can honestly say that I appreciate what I have so much more in these last few days and complaints about snow and new kitchens just don't seem to worry me quite so much.

So there you go, I am a big softy and I am the sort of man who sits on the couch pretending that the news reports don't affect me – but they do. No doubt next week I will be back to my usual self and ranting about something much less important. But this week it didn't really seem right to ignore what is such an awful event.