Haiti

Like you, I have been moved by the tragedy and the media coverage of the disaster in Haiti since almost a week ago.

Have been unable to write much, not because I am too overwhelmed with sadness---though sad I am, as we all are. I think it's a recognition that in this moment, the topics that BobOnARoll obsesses about---media, politics, economics, health care, art, sport, travel, and the rest---seem to fade into deep background. A recall of how I felt during the aftermath of the Asian tsunami 5 years ago---the magnitude of it and the quick, merciless termination of hundreds of thousands of lives. Today's nyt.com carried a short but very moving piece about the additional pain that is unique to Haitian culture: the burial of unidentified dead without the elaborate funeral rites that are their practice. The so-called voodoo and other spiritual practices, which, according to the piece, provided a spiritual link for the people to their pre-slavery past. And now, in an instant, gone.

So, in addition to the lack of physical nourishment, they and we face a spiritual challenge of huge proportions.

Send money. Send prayers.