How can we ever learn?

A friend who faithfully reads my blog (thank you!) mentioned that I hadn't been writing too many posts of late. It's easy to get out of the habit.

The catastrophe in Haiti is on everyone's mind, an event of such disastrous proportions it boggles the mind--like the Tsunami and Katrina and 9/11 did. Perhaps this affects us in part because Haiti is so relatively close to home; or because it is a nation whose people have always suffered and struggled to barely survive. Our sense of the unfairness of it all comes into play, even though we all know fairness has little to do with how life works. Still, we desire it. And at least for the moment, the actions of people from all parts of the world are focused on compassion and caring, instead of power, greed and abuse.

I was pleased, for example, to hear that Cuba waived the rule of our military flying in their air space, so that the planes could get to Haiti much quicker. And one of the "miracle" stories of a late rescue involved a team from Turkey, a country and a people that I have grown to love. In the midst of such devastation, there seems little concern about what religion someone is or what their politics are. I've said before that this attitude was part of why I loved hospital ministry. When people are down to the basics--life or death, pain or freedom from pain--the other things don't count. The hospital staff is dedicated to healing, no matter who someone is or what they think.That at least holds true in the emergency situations; not as much when things calm down.

So I puzzle, as countless others have and will, over what it is in the human psyche that can rise to such heights of goodness and self-sacrifice when things are the worst, only to slip back into patterns of whining, grasping, and abuse once life is back to "normal."

Greg Mortenson has written two books I highly recommend: "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones into Schools". He was on Bill Moyers Journal Friday night and it was heartening to hear him say that the military generals have read 3Cups and are talking with him about how to work more effectively with the Afghan people. He said our military needs to develop relationships with the tribal elders, which is a large and difficult task, but one which might actually bring about stability and peace ultimately. And, for what it costs our government to support ONE soldier for a year in Afghanistan, Greg said he could build many schools--I think it was 30-40.

So on this Martin Luther King Day, I pray we may someday learn how to "overcome."