Has Tiger Woods rehabilitated himself with his 3 million dollar pledge towards relief in Haiti? That will not be the question asked by the starving desperate Haitians whose lives he will save, or whose homes he will help rebuild, with his generous contribution. Whatever the motives, and whatever the source, in situations such as this, the bottom line is really all that matters.
Although his is the biggest single contribution so far from a celebrity, it was by no means the only one; significant pledges were made by Brad and Angelina, Madonna, Sandra Bullock, Lance Armstrong, the New York Yankees and many others. Olivia Wilde, star of the hit TV drama, House, has even promised to send a personalized thank-you video to anyone who donates $200 or more to Artists for Peace and Justice now raising money for Haiti.
Many major corporations, often themselves referenced as the very symbols of American corpulence and greed, shelled out millions in aid, Coca Cola, Google Inc, Goldman Sachs, Comcast, Pepsi, UPS, Microsoft and Morgan Stanley were among those whose contributions topped 1 million dollars, followed closely by McDonald’s, Go Daddy, General Mills, Target, Wall-mart, Nestle and many others. These contributions so far surpass the financial commitments made by a number of countries around the world.
This globally coordinated far-reaching response to natural disasters, rising to the occasion and assisting fellow human beings in need on the other side of the world, is unprecedented in history.
But what does it take to elicit such an immediate, unified and comprehensive reaction to a pressing issue or calamity? Do we need to see the images of bodies being dragged from the rubble or bloodied victims lying in the streets? Do we need to see footage of a lone child wandering around without clothes looking for a recognizable face?
What if we knew in advance of an impending danger? What if we could see the possibility coming? What if there was something that could be done to prevent the calamity beforehand? Would it be as easy to garner such support? Or is it only after so much death and destruction has already taken place that people start caring, and action is taken?
Of course natural disasters are hard to predict and there is little one can do to prevent them, but historically the greatest loss of life has not been the work of nature, but the work of man. Although one can never evaluate the worth of a human life, one hundred thousand Haitian deaths or two hundred thousand dead in the tsunami of 2004, is a small percentile in comparison to wartime deaths. In the 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad alone, there were almost 2 million casualties, and some estimate that the total number of Iraq war casualties at well over a million. Five and a half million people died in Vietnam.
Sometimes war is unavoidable and in hindsight is easy to pontificate, but it often seems as if there is way too little urgency and interest in global threats until it is too late. Iran is a supreme example; this potential catastrophe in the making is horrendous in its magnitude, yet around the world people seem satisfied to saunter along in their daily lives, leaving matters in the hands of politicians and not giving it a second thought, never mind actually doing something about it.
Other manmade preventable disasters waiting to happen include Pakistan and North Korea, where is the outcry from American celebrity icons and corporate giants? Where is the unified global initiative aimed at halting their dangerous progression?
Is it because of the media attention that Haiti has received? Is all this generosity a publicity exercise? An attempt at branding individuals or corporations as bastions of goodness in the face of calamity, or is there any genuine social responsibility and caring?
What will it take for the world to mobilize like they have done for Haiti in the face of a foreseeable mass threat to human life, taking action to prevent it before it happens?
Perhaps the proof of intention will be our ability to mobilize in the face of an impending threat, one that is n't flashed in front of the cameras and the public eye.
The Author is the director of the Algemeiner and the GJCF and can be e-mailed at defune@gjcf.com
| 
