2010 Haiti Earthquake " The Pottery Barn Rule"

Recently in English we've been studying the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. At first, I thought about the many lives that were lost in the earthquake and many more that might still be missing. When I saw a Democracy Now video about the issue, I started to think about how good life is for me and how I can't take it for granted because it can easily be taken away. I know that many people might feel the same way, and others might not care because they think they have seen this before. For example I read a post by a kid that said that the Haitian Earthquake wasn't the worst disaster and he doesn't know why people are caring so much.

One thing that I know for sure about Haiti is that the United States and Haiti have had quite the history. I read that the United States and France made Haiti pay over 20 billion dollars to them. When the Haitians were free from French rule, The United States refused to accept them as a free country. Now I have studied my share of US history and I can tell you that this is not in the History textbooks. I guess its that type of thing that the United States wanted to keep a secret. Personally its funny how a country that is so free and safe has secrets.

I did some research on the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and I came across this article: Haiti relocating Homeless, Port repairs needed http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_earthquake. This article provided a lot of information on the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. It talked about the homeless are being relocated to halt the spread of disease. They are being put into buses and places where it is considered habitable. "The new camps "are going to be going to places where they will have at least some adequate facilities," This reassures me of what they are doing to make sure that the homeless have a place to stay.

In another source that I looked at, Why the US owes Haiti Billions http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/why-the-us-owes-haiti-bil_b_426260.html there was this one statement that made me wonder.Why does the 2US owe Haiti Billions? Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the 4"Pottery Barn rule." That is - "if you break it, you own it." This is so crazy, it basically means that we have basically broke Haiti down as a country and now we own it. It just makes you wonder why the United States feels that they have to be bullies.

All of this makes me think that this is the United States fault. If Haiti was left alone they could probably fend for themselves and bring aid for themselves, but the US basically changed all of that with our nosiness. The US should not waste another second, they should get out to Haiti and help them out. Maybe they will feel better about what they did.

This is a picture that shows the devastion in Haiti, It shows how these shacks made by poor families were crumbled. To think that these people have to rebuild with no money is sad, that's why donating to help this country is very vital.