This is Our Greatness

Like a prideful lion atop the highest point of the prairie, we as Americans always like to boast how great we are.

And we have plenty of reason to, though many have misplaced where that greatness truly lies.

Anyone who doubts America’s greatness had less reason to after the actions of a majority of its people and government this week. In the face of unfathomable disaster by their neighbor Haiti, Americans have answered the cries for aid quicker than the needle moved on the seismograph during the 7.0 earthquake.

In just two days, the American Red Cross has raised more than $7 million off nothing more than folks sending a single text pledge of $10 each. Planes filled with aid have overloaded the Port-au-Prince airport, and the capital city’s port would have been the same if not for it being destroyed in the quake. Save for a few nuts and their dittoheads, seemingly every American – from the Kindergartner holding a lemonade sale to office workers pooling donations – has wanted to help the people of Haiti.

This is our greatness.

There are some who will tell you that our greatness comes from our might. From bombs and guns, and from forceful words and actions.

That is not the reason the world looks up to America. Our greatness comes from our generosity. From giving aid and a helping hand. From answering a call for help and acting as the shining beacon that leads the world to a better place.

This may not seem like the best time to give ourselves a pat on the back. Just a few hundred miles to the south, there are still people buried under crumble concrete hoping for some ray of sunshine to lead them back to life.

But pointing out our greatness is needed when there are still those among us who don’t realize what makes America great.

There are those who say we are better as a nation to simply ignore the cries of Haiti. That we’ve already sent enough of our money down there. That we should just worry about ourselves. For that reason, it’s important to cry out that it is not American or patriotic to be selfish.

There is a minority that would rather spend billions to blow up Iraq than spend millions to save Haiti. But the world doesn’t admire America for Hiroshima or its nuclear arsenal. It admires us for the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Air Lift.

When America seemed to forget that for much of the last decade, the world’s view of America declined. Each piece of candy passed from one of our brave soldiers to a child in Baghdad did more to rebuild the country than the bombing of a Baghdad building.

There are also those who use religion to claim the Haitians had it coming. But the greatness of the world’s religions comes not from them being perverted to justify hatred and evil. It is from the teachings of Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, Hinduism - and seemingly all religions - that say the same thing: Good will to all men, and love thy neighbor.

This is our greatness.

Let our beacon of hope continue to shine. Text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts.