Breaking News: Earthquake in Haiti

Close your eyes.  Calm yourself and breathe deeply.  Imagine yourself spending time with family and/or friends or even by yourself.  You're having a good time and are relaxed.  Maybe you decide to get up and go for a walk or you're on your way home.  No matter what you're doing, you're relaxed and going on with your day as usual.  It's a pretty good thought isn't it?  All of a sudden, the earth begins to shake.  Everything in sight begins to crumble and there is nowhere to run.  If you're with someone, you try to rush to each other and try to hide.  If you're by yourself, you do whatever to shield yourself from the tumbling things.  You may hear screaming and crying and crashing and there's absolutely nothing you can do until it is over.    Open your eyes.  What are you thinking?  How do you feel?  I'm sure everyone reading this is so grateful that they only imagined an Earthquake and it didn't really happen.  Too bad everyone can't be grateful it was just a dream.

On January 12, 2010, the first black country to gain their independence, Haiti was hit with a devastating 7.0 earthquake shortly before 5 pm.  What followed were two strong after shocks that had magnitudes of 5.5 and 5.9.  The damage has been devastating.  The country has been hit by natural catastrophe's before, but this is definitely one of the worst.  As of now, there is no specific dead body count, but thousands of feared to be dead in the aftermath.  In a country where 70-80% of the population lives in poverty, this earthquake is more devastating to the Haiti, then it would be in a country that has a lot more financial stability and support.  The US government has even set up a number to help people locate their family members (888-407-4747).  Not much more is known at this time, but as a new day comes, more questions will be answered and the true damages will be shown as it hard to see since it happened in the later part of the day.

This my friends, is yet another reason to be grateful for life. Things may not always be going the way you think they should and everything is not always perfect, but there are always situations that remind us of how blessed we are.  If you're not in Haiti, nor have people you know there, tonight you will just go to sleep.  You will not have had to fight for your life, nor are you worrying if anyone is dead or alive.  That alone, should be reason enough to maintain an attitude of gratitude.  

Until next time....keep the forward movement....