Hati has a way of highlighting the work we need to do to be a truly civilized and humane society.

With each incidence of disaster in Hati the world has a new opportunity to display its compassion. I am grateful for the hundreds of volunteers from around the world who are giving of themselves and making a difference. for the nations that sponsor them and have contributed aid and resources. For the millions who have made donations despite facing economic challenges at home. There is truth in the saying "I am my brothers keeper." When we see ourselves in others we are connected to the only real source of security we have. When we care for each other we can count on one another, and we are then never alone. The benefits of brotherhood are perpetual.

But the selfish, self-interest based way in which we typically choose to live leaves us with small circles of support. Support that is then contingent on a negotiated exchange of benefits, and only available when it serves the interests of others. Reading about a group of doctors who elected to leave critically wounded survivors to secure their own safety, and took the medicine and supplies at hand with them, is a perfect exemplification of the selfish, misguided, and ultimately cruel beliefs we hold that prevent us from achieving real peace and security. We are not our brothers keeper. We make judgements everyday about who is expendable and who is not. And these decisions are based solely on our own selfish interests that change all the time depending on what we want. Someone close to me made the point that those doctors simply chose to live to save lives another day. But two things about that choice are true - first they judged the patients in their care as expendable; and second, they would almost certainly have made a different decision if any of their loved ones where among those they chose to leave. They saw a difference between themselves, those they love and care most about, and the people they were there to care for who desperately needed their help.

The lack of clear responses to simple questions about what safeguards are in place to ensure funds reach the victims who need them indicates there are serious issues we must confront. Former presidents Clinton and Bush both gave no answers to that question relative to their new relief fund, which they positioned as credible despite failing to answer that basic question seeking to verify its credibility. Their response was to say the most important thing was that "people want to help." A complete deflection from the question as to wether contributions to their fund will in fact get to the victims. What former president Bush did indicate was that their fund was focused on the "rebuilding" effort. A sign that its dollars would be used to support development. This could be described as public subsidies to pay private contractors in the development effort. These types of vague and unclear responses to clear and direct inquiries are signs of trouble. I hope we are vigilant in recognizing these signs, and in taking action to avoid supporting anything that is not clear and responsive to our priorities.

Hati is the worlds Katrina response. We have many logical and rational justifications for the inconsiderate actions we perpetrate on each other every day. But Hati has a way of putting us face to face with the err of our ways. Whenever we see the utter cruelty and contempt Hatians experience, something in some of us simply does not feel "right." We know we are capable of more having witnessed the billions of dollars and fundamental legal reforms we hastily enacted to save a collapsed economic system. We cannot justify when experts on site failing to setup basic corpse identification practices so the living will have some way of counting and claiming the dead. I hope we will not allow the misdeeds of a few taint the powerful loving spirit that comes forth in times of trouble. I hope we will fight to embrace our inherent commonality and change our selfish tendencies. I hope that ultimately we will learn to be more loving.