Good job, Dartmouth.
It's not over, but you've done well. According to the Partners in Health web site, you are currently leading every other college in giving to PIH's efforts in Haiti. Dartmouth has raised more money, held more events and shown more support for Haitians than any other school. Other organizations nationwide have made equally impressive showings. The Hope for Haiti Now concert last weekend raised $58 million. The House and Senate unanimously passed legislation that allows donations made to Haiti in 2010 to be deducted from last year's tax returns. Indeed, it has been a long time since people came together around a cause like this.
But the most inspiring story from Haiti was not about million dollar donations or activist college campuses. What was so amazing to me was that in the days following the earthquake, there was a conspicuous lack of violence amongst the survivors.
While most natural disasters cause immediate looting and violence, reports from Haiti in the days after the major earthquake struck described relative peace and calm. Aid trucks were able to get to their destinations peacefully. Complete strangers were helping each other dig through the rubble to find loved ones. True, looting did start after a few days. But, for a while there, it was nothing but common decency that kept the situation from worsening. It was good people, rather than good deeds, that helped Haiti survive those first few days as help arrived.
The example of Haiti raises interesting questions. Presuming we all have the goal of being good people, what is the best way to do that? That celebrity we see on TV, crusading against sweatshop labor and advocating for vegetarianism, seems pretty admirable until we hear she's been cheating on her husband. We all know that guy who chairs the Special Olympics committee, volunteers on the local school board, is a trustee for the art museum and is also a mean-spirited jerk.
Even as college students, we sometimes miss the moral forest for the trees. How many times have we talked about the evils of colonialism in class and then ignored the person throwing up on the Webster Avenue curb? How often do we go to charity dinners only to try to sneak our way to the front of the dinner line? The little bit of good we do by donating a few dollars from our DBA or turning the lights off when we leave our rooms is certainly worthwhile. I'm sure, though, that we could do at least as much good by learning a lesson from the Haitians, who were able to inspire the world simply by being compassionate, decent people even in the face of horrible personal tragedy.
We all feel this way even if we do not realize it. The people in our own lives whom we admire are not usually great or remarkable figures. The crusaders or revolutionaries do not always garner our true respect, and if they do, they will soon lose it if they are not good people in their daily lives as well. Instead, it's the professor who spends extra time with you during office hours, the friend who helps you through a tough time and the stranger who gives you a ride when your car breaks down who really gain our respect and admiration. Just think about Warren Buffett, a noted philanthropist and one of the most respected people in American business. His respect does not come primarily from his wealth or generous charitable donations, though that is certainly part of it. Rather, it is his reputation as a humble and decent man that causes him to be considered a model citizen.
So, I have a thesis. We should go on donating and holding events to help the unfortunate across the world. But we should also remember to hold the door open for the person behind us. We should take pride when the media picks up on our astounding levels of fundraising. But we should also help that struggling floormate with his Spanish homework. That seven dollars we donate will go far in helping an impoverished nation. But think how much farther it could go if we coupled it with a commitment to the people we have the most access to every day.
Good job, Dartmouth. But our work is not over yet.
