I was talking with neighbor Carol yesterday. She told me about a conversation she had the night before with a woman she knows. They were talking about Haiti. Carol was saying it was so good to see so many nations contributing and people from afar helping in different ways.  Her aquaintence said cynically that the country had been run by corrupt dictators for years, and shipments of supplies were being delayed.

Apparently Carol’s mouth hung open on the phone. She said, “So what!” Sure, the darker things may be true, but is that the point? Isn’t the point to just plain help out because a whole nation is suffering horribly and our fellow human beings need help?

As you can tell, Carol is very compassionate, and involved. I am working in Virginia now outside Washington, and she told me she was going to volunteer to help the efforts through the Haitian Embassy. I said, “Hey, I’d like to join in”. We went to the embassy the other day and got trained to field phone calls regarding victims, missing people and news from the country. We were grateful for the chance to participate.

There is a message here that ties right into the principles that inspired, and still inspire, Conscious Cooperation. It is always about PEOPLE. It is about being willing to drop the guard as best we can and relate as honestly as we can. It is about caring. It is about offering the best of yourself, not blindly, but offering it with your senses open.

This is my take anyway, and I know Carol agrees. She is a real estate agent, and she is busy and successful. She gives the best of herself to her clients.

Going back to Haiti, I offer heartfelt prayers for healing and rebuilding on all levels. I know that the efforts of so many people to help out in different ways all count for a lot.