Jan13/10: Warm

Jan13/10: Warm, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Each time I go out I pile on the layers from winter undergarments to my indoor clothes to the jacket, scarf and hat you see here. Sometimes my jacket hood is up with the snug collar velcroed shut leaving just my face exposed. We complain about the cold, the ice, the sleet, whatever there is. It's easy to complain when there is really little to complain about.

I watched the news with the devastating images from Haiti. I saw our Governor-General, Michaelle Jean, herself from Haiti, cry as she spoke of the tragedy. I sit in my warm home, with light and heat and clean running water and am reminded how good my life is. I will go to a warm bed tonight, in my well-built house and sleep under as many blankets as I want while so many suffer in Haiti and have always suffered from lives of extreme poverty.

Tragedies like this bring out the best and worst in people. Many donate money. On twitter someone posted that his son was being deployed to Haiti. Countries are sending resources and people to help.

Also on twitter someone said that it was good people died - it would ease the poverty as the "wealth" could be spread among fewer people -as if that is what will happen. A religious woman I know felt God was passing judgement on Haiti. I don't understand this attitude.

The inequalities in this world are enormous. How fortunate I am to have the clothes I need and more to keep me warm when the mercury dips down, a sturdy roof over my head and to live in a country where my medical needs will be taken care of.