random ironic thoughts
An Unqualified Sermon
I rode in a minivan this afternoon from Port-au-Prince to Tonmgato where the guy sitting immediately next to me started giving an impromptu sermon at the top of his lungs right next to me. Everyone else ignored him as I tried to, until he said that according to the Bible, the earthquake was a punishment from God and that women exist “for” men. I jumped in with the end of the Noah’s flood story and the two versions of the creation of man and woman in Genesis and asked him how this figured into his beliefs. The guy had never heard of them. He didn’t even believe me that I said that there are two creation “stories” in the Bible and called me a liar. It turns out the guy can’t read (even in Creole) and hasn’t even heard the whole of Genesis read to him. Yet he feels qualified to spew his beliefs at the top of his lungs based on his belief in the absolute truth in parts of a book that he has heard only a tiny portion of and has never read personally.
It worked so well in their country…
You see UN troops driving through Haiti all the time. They are there to discourage looting, riots, and overall anarchy. You most frequently see Sri Lankans and South Koreans, but yesterday I saw two jeeps full of Iraqi UN soldiers. My “salaam alaykum got a big smile and a hearty “alaykum salaam” in response. I think it is ironic that Iraqi soldiers are helping to provide security here in the Western hemisphere in the backyard on the US. Meanwhile their own country has a huge security problem which would not have existed if the US hadn’t invaded. If we weren’t in the middle of two wars, we’d probably have a bunch of our troops available to provide continuing security in Haiti. But after so much US influence in Haiti (some claim the US military kidnapped president Aristide in 2004) maybe its better that we don’t have the troops to keep them here anyway.
Bringing cake to the wedding
I heard an unconfirmed rumor that some government or aid organization donated mangos and coffee as “food aid” immediately after the quake. These are the only two crops that represent a substantial export for Haiti.
