I am a huge news hound. I read the news on my cell phone all day long and check the news feeds on my computer whenever I am not teaching. That is why what I am about to tell you is so strange...I have not read or watched one single report on the earthquake in Haiti.
I have analyzed this and can only come up with the following reason: I feel it is all so out of control. I don't know what I am supposed to do with the information I get from the reports during disasters besides become depressed and hopeless. I am convinced we watch some of these disasters out of a morbid curiosity. Like gawking at a car wreck as we creep by after waiting in traffic.
Today, as I was preparing lessons to teach the book, Old Man and the Sea, to my high school sophomores, I was struck by the theme of the book and how the message of the book is what I need to get Haiti "under control" in my own head. Maybe it will help you as well.
Hemingway, who knew all too well how out of control our lives can feel, wrote a simple, beautiful little book about an old man who, for his whole life, has struggled against the sea in order to fish. That's it. It is just about an old man and a fish. But, out of that struggle, we find the following:
I may be destroyed, but I am not defeated.
The tragedy of Haiti will be immeasurable for many years to come, but the people of Haiti will find strength, dignity, and heroism in the face of death and destruction. The human spirit is amazing, especially when covered in cement dust and blood. Even when it knows it cannot possibly win in the end, it does not give up. Thanks, Papa Hemingway, for reminding me of this today.
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