Helping Haiti, What I learned and NO man is an island

What I learned: One of the hardest things to do in life is to walk in other people's shoes, but if we did, we would be more compassionate, less judgemental and I believe, much happier.

In Gratitude. I am grateful that I live in a country that functions well. I will never take that for granted. We have electrical power, water and food available if we have a catastrophe. I am thinking of Haiti right now.

As I am taping My next season of Living Smart, a destructive earthquake hit Haiti the poorest country in the western Hemisphere. I could not help but think about the devastation and despair, those people who already have nothing are facing. In one of our shows, Dr. Chitra Divakaruni, a novelist and poet discussed the poem, No man is an Island by John Donne. In the poem, we learn something many know and that is. We are all interconnected. We are human and we depend on each other. The challenge is some people believe that we should only help Americans, or those who look like us or those who profess our religion, have our same color or belong to the same social class. Here is what I say. Close your eyes. You are at home with two children and your husband. The next moment the house you have lived in all your life falls on your head. You can barely move from the pain. Your kids are under rubble. They are crying. You call your husband and he is dead. You desperately try to get out of the house to get help, but you see, every school, every hospital, every police station is in rubbles too. Now. My question to you is. What would you do to help this woman?
When people tell me, so called religious people. We can't afford to help those people. We don't have any money. We are in debt. My answer is. Walk in that woman's shoes, if you can and if you can't, I hope you never ever face an earthquake in your life.
Pray for Haiti if you can't give and if you can give. You'll know what to do.

Go to Consumer reports.org to know how to best donate to Haiti.