Canada For Haiti

I'm sitting here, typing this blog post while George Clooney's Hope For Haiti Telethon wraps up on the heels of the Canada for Haiti special, with my fridge stocked, my heat on, my babies warm and dry in their beds, and my family warm and safe in each others' arms tonight. I am so very, very fortunate.

The two telethons pulled out all the stops, and I mean all. Bono sang with Rhianna. Jack Nicholson answered phones next to Jennifer Aniston. Anderson Cooper interspersed with heart-wrenching stories of babies being pulled from the rubble eight days later and surviving - mothers digging their children out with their bare hands. It looks like Hollywood genuinely came out to support, in all its' dressed-down, understated, acoustic power. And what a power it was. Clooney stepped up admirably, and rallied Hollywood as only an A-lister can, to do something positive, with depth and sensitivity.

The result was frankly hard to watch. While my heart celebrates the common thread of humanity we are still capable of picking up to help each other in times of great need, it also recoiled at the sheer magnitude of the devastation, and the images on screen. For the first time in my life, I had to look away for a moment and collect my thoughts. I cannot mentally comprehend what the people of Haiti are not only facing today, but in the months and years to come. What are the long-term effects going to be on that little boy that was stuck in the rubble for eight days? Will the U.S. learn from Katrina and offer up aid more effectively and proficiently? What will become of all of those hundreds of thousands of people?

Kind of puts the O'Brian/Leno/Letterman debacle into sharp perspective, doesn't it?