I have seen the damages and displacement but i think this is still a valid consideration. pf, sorry, i'm not inclined to believe your assessment. For an international agency that goes all out to relieve human disaster - good job - and yet at the same time, the red cross is supposed to be borderless, but not the people looking in.
To put into perspective, let's say 1% of this trillion dollars is available. That would still amount to ... a lot of decimal places, but more accurately 1,528,000,000,000 minus 2 zeroes, or more locally relevant, a Minister mentor for 212 years.
The red cross's charter is such that they are meant to be neutral to the ability of the country to help themselves, but this cannot be said about the people who are not of this group.
Large foreign reserves...sure. However we are not talking about a country of 4-5 million people. We are talking about a country of 1.3+ billion people. And China IS moving large amount of money into the problem.
Not everything in hunky-dory in every country. Each has their "dark sides". But unless you've worked closely with them at the govt level, it's hard to appreciate the complexity of the issues. Most critics see from a tainted filter. They are not wrong in their opinions, but most of the time the criticism comes from a simplistic understanding of the socio-economic-politcal-cultural issues involved.
And we can go on arguing forever. That doesn't change the fact that people need help. To each their own. Give if you want to. Don't give if you don't want to. Our whole family is behind this. I want my children to grow up knowing they can give whatever little they can. I don't want their hearts to ever harden.
Give if you want to. Don't give if you don't want to. Our whole family is behind this. I want my children to grow up knowing they can give whatever little they can. I don't want their hearts to ever harden.
Cheez, I admire what you are doing for the people there. I hope I can do the same. I am a wuss. I can't put away my commitments here and just fly to China to help. Sigh... that's why I feel guilty about it.
It saddens me to read this thread. In any case, ac, for whatever reasons you may have, don't donate if you don't feel like it. Thank you.
Large foreign reserves...sure. However we are not talking about a country of 4-5 million people. We are talking about a country of 1.3+ billion people. And China IS moving large amount of money into the problem.
Not everything in hunky-dory in every country. Each has their "dark sides". But unless you've worked closely with them at the govt level, it's hard to appreciate the complexity of the issues. Most critics see from a tainted filter. They are not wrong in their opinions, but most of the time the criticism comes from a simplistic understanding of the socio-economic-politcal-cultural issues involved.
And we can go on arguing forever. That doesn't change the fact that people need help. To each their own. Give if you want to. Don't give if you don't want to. Our whole family is behind this. I want my children to grow up knowing they can give whatever little they can. I don't want their hearts to ever harden.
That is true:To give or not to give is entirely up to the individual, arguments for and against and the will to act ultimately depends on the person. To take the same stance as your view on the complexities of the socio-economic landscape, i can also simply say donating money might also be a simplistic response to a complex problem. I definitely do not buy into the argument that it takes a trained expert to understand any situation. It's too much to defer critical thinking for someone else's opinion, which is why i'm offering an alternative view point on this disaster. This is not a critique on the groups involved, but an observation of the financial prowess of china.
