It’s personal

Editor, The Times:

I learned today that the niece of a friend working on relief in Haiti for the U.N. was killed in the earthquake [“Devastated,” page one, Jan. 14]. This cuts through the distance of faraway news like a knife and makes the earthquake and the suffering in Haiti something personal, painful and up-close.

In the same day’s news, I read that Pat Robertson has blamed the earthquake on the 18th century slave revolt against the French. Robertson remarked that the earthquake was caused by a pact with the devil made when Haitian slaves launched a revolt against French colonial power at the end of the 18th century.

“They got together and swore a pact to the devil,” said Robertson. “They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’”

There simply appears to be no end of the obscenity that right-wing fanatics spew — and this is what passes itself as “Christianity” in parts of this country.

I hope American response to the suffering in Haiti will show that we are a country of openhanded generosity, not mean, medieval superstition.

— Nathaniel R. Brown, Edmonds

Heal Haiti’s old wounds

Our hearts are in Haiti and we must help the Haitian people in this urgent moment. But we must be more than foul-weather friends. We must stand by them for the long haul.

These people are our neighbors, yet they live in dire poverty. This must change. A healthy, educated and prosperous Haiti is in our best interest.

The Haitian people need urgent help and need clean water, food and medicine. But we must do more than slap a bandage on this gaping wound. Haiti has been bleeding out for generations. Lets face reality and do our part to cure the disease at the root of this crisis.

We must lead the world community in building, from the ground up, a system of community-based schools and clinics to educate the young and heal the sick. Nonprofits with strong bonds to Haitian communities are our best bet. Partners in Health has been active in Haiti for a quarter century. They run nine clinics across the island. We must support their efforts and follow their lead.

The Haitian people are aching for more from life. We can give them an honest shot at realizing their dreams. Knowing the American spirit, we will.

— Ben Packard, Bainbridge Island

Haitian lives trivialized

I am a local student, now in eighth grade at Washington Middle School. When I woke up early this morning and read the article about the Haitian earthquake, I was horrified and sad. But then I looked at the paper again and I got mad.

It just shocked me that in your three news stories, the layout suggested that the two American missionaries trapped in rubble were of equal importance to the lives of thousands of Haitians. I found it offensive that two people were considered as important as thousands in Haiti just because the missionaries were American.

You made it into an issue of “us” and “them”. If you can’t — as mature adults — show equal respect to everyone, then what do you think that teaches us?

— Marley Arborico, Seattle