Bring home compassion shown Haiti

I can't help but wonder after looking at the devastation and grief of the Haitian people how fortunate we are not to have to face these tragedies. Yet, I sense uneasiness about our process of giving financial aid for these people. We seem to be very comfortable with the idea of donating funds and supporting organizations that dedicate themselves to helping victims of natural disasters. I wonder why we don't have the same commitment when it comes to providing our own people with the basic necessities of life.

We seem to have the notion that a benefit, a special fundraiser and other charitable activities can somehow compensate for the lack of proper health insurance and most importantly a job that offers a decent wage and not just minimum wage with part-time hours.

It seems we tolerate corporate America's dominance of our lives just as corporate America has dominated so many underdeveloped nations like Haiti with poverty- level wages — less than a dollar a day. Many of our own citizens cannot find full-time work — 40 hours — with some type of meaningful health benefits and work benefits.

Corporate America has brainwashed us into thinking that we somehow don't deserve benefits that include sick time, family illness and personal time as relevant in maintaining dignity in the workplace and quality of life. Compound that with the lack of health care benefits and we end up with a subclass of citizens who have very little control over their own lives.

As a people, we are most generous in helping with emergency situations, but at the same time, we hesitate to make the commitment to sustain or even acknowledge that we should raise the standard of living for our own citizens. If we took a stand for others less fortunate than ourselves, we might be surprised at how much better our communities and cities would be. It's amazing what a full-time job with substantial benefits can do for the individual, the family and our society as a whole.

Many of the same people who promote dignity of life for all, at the same time, deny health benefits and employment benefits for all, a very sad contradiction which ultimately undermines the very fabric of American society.

Cynthia Graham

Watertown