Destroy This City of Delusion

Good Evening.

I have been busy listening to Muse and browsing zappos.com looking for shoes that I don't need and shouldn't buy.

But I have to figure out something for summer footwear, because apparently my beloved Old Navy flip flops are not allowed at the new job and I have no idea what I will wear. Thumbs down to that.

I was thinking today about a status I saw on Facebook last week basically "shaming" Americans for donating to relief efforts in Haiti when there are so many Americans themselves in poverty.

Several points come to mind:

1. Helping others in need is quintessentially American. We give when there is great need. We have done so for a very long time, and for various different reasons. I like to think that is something that sets our country apart from many others, the fact that our people are compassionate and can be selfless.

2. In my mind there is a question of disaster origin. Yes, there are many in America who have very little. There are also plenty of people in America who have placed themselves in crisis by living outside their means and by taking advantage of others charity. The disasters in New Orleans, Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the earthquake in Haiti were disasters that the residents of the respective locations had no control over. No one had any idea that the land would shake and open and kill almost 200,000 people a few weeks ago.

Should we deny these people relief simply because they are not Americans?

Or is it American to give relief because we have been provided more opportunities than most of the worlds population?

And how many Americans out there would refuse to give aid to their fellow Americans? I know that I donated to the Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Does donating aid to a foreign country make you less American?

I don't think it does.

Now, sit back and enjoy this rare live performance of Muses City of Delusion

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life

So, I have completed 3 weeks at the new job, and I could not be happier. I feel truly lucky that this opportunity was open while I was on the search for a new job.

I am finding it a challenge to make lesson plans for 12-18 month old children, but I am working it out. I'm also looking forward to starting the series of classes from Action for Children dealing with Infant and Toddler development. (Yes, I am that person who enjoys classes)

And when I am not at work, I have found myself glued to CNN watching coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. Tragic and heartbreaking and after a while I had to make myself turn it off. Granted, I haven't watched any other networks coverage, but CNN's reporters have done a really respectful, professional, and genuine job of covering the earthquake. From reading Anderson Coopers book, Dispatches from the Edge, I know that there is no other place in the world that he would have been.

I think there is a real reason that we identify with AC so much. He is just as messed up as the rest of us. And he has super awesome gray hair.

I will leave you with this for no real reason at all: