A picture on the front page of The Sun yesterday of homeless Haitians in a makeshift camp has me ashamed of the excess in our home.
We have too much food in the pantry, little free space in the freezer, so many toys that there is no place to put them and a house too big for a family of six.
This morning my 5-year-old made himself a big bowl of cereal and hardly ate any of it. He has no concept of the meaning of waste. This struck me as I was reading that troops in Haiti were only able to deliver food to half the refugees needing it.
But I was at a loss to explain it to Jonah. “There are people starving in China” never really worked for me — so I know saying the same to him would be of little use.
While I’m glad that we are able to live comfortably, I don’t want my children to take the luxuries we have for granted. I want them to feel compassion for the people in Haiti, and to be able to reflect on and be thankful for what we have. Is that asking too much of a child of 5, or 9 or even 11?
You have too much, really? This is what you’re teaching your children? To feel guilty for achievement, success, and a lifestyle that you’ve earned with your own hard work because you are lucky enough to live in the greatest country in the world that afforded you that opportunity? You are ‘ashamed’ of your excess and are going to pass this misdirected guilt on to your children? Why don’t you show them the billions being directed to Haiti through (among other things) the deployment of the greatest military in the world, liquidate their college funds for donation, and march them straight down to the recruiter’s office and sign them up for the delayed entry program. Believe me, they won’t make ‘too much’ money and they might actually get a real eductaion. Compassion is not learned by way of guilt and shame.