Wednesday, September 29, 2004

White Man's Guilt

There is a village in Haiti called Labadee. The beach there is privately owned by the good people of Royal Caribbean International, and on most days, one of their cruise ships pulls up and sets anchor a couple of miles from shore. Then, tendering boats carry loads of tourists back and forth from the beach to the ship. These tourists, who by the way have been eating at all-you-can-eat buffets all week, lie around on the beach, ride wave-runners, go kayaking, snorkelling, and parasailing, and enjoy a big barbeque lunch provided by the cruise line. Then they all leave, fat and happy. Meanwhile the villagers who happen to live on the coast watch. These villagers live in tiny broken-down shacks in a country with 95% unemployment. Some of them are lucky, and can sell their crafts to a few of the tourists who come close enought to their village to meet them. The Hatian people made $25 off of me last Monday. Not far away, on the other side of Haiti, at least 1300 people were killed by tropical storm Jeanne, and the ones who survived are killing each other over the little bit of food there is. I went parasailing while I was there, and it is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. But something is really wrong with the whole situation. I'm glad mindfullness is "in." Maybe other people are thinking about this too. It makes the Ranger's slim chance to make the play-offs seem pretty unimportant.

1 comment:

Robert_M said...

The Rangers are unimportant beause it's football season.

I feel you on the Haiti vibe though, Voodoo Lady.