Haitian Tragedy

I've had the people of Haiti on my mind a lot over the last couple of days. There is no way to quantify what they are experiencing as anything but tragically devastating. It is on a par with the December 2004 tsunami that struck Thailand, in terms of the scope of the disaster, but at the same time, I wonder if maybe it is worse. I can't help but think of the people separated from loved ones and not knowing whether they are dead or alive. Thoughts of people trapped alive in rubble alongside the decomposing bodies of those who did not survive, in pain, and wondering whether they will be rescued, or knowing that the end of their lives are drawing near, as they feel their life force ebbing away, steal into my thoughts. I think of Haiti and the mournful sadness that swept a nation, in a flash, as they went about a day that started off as any other ordinary day and ended in fear, sorrow, and tragedy, a nightmare from which they cannot awaken. I think about people who struggle to meet basic human needs on a daily basis already, who now must struggle all the harder in the midst of calamity and chaos to try to meet those same needs and more. I think of the collective voices of people crying out to God in their sorrow, all at once, and without ceasing since the earthquake struck. My heart is overwhelmed with sadness for the people of Haiti and my prayers go out to them.