I feel like my recent posts have been downers lately. Without meaning to, I’ve drifted toward heavier topics, less fluff. Thus, my intention was to be lighter with today’s Wise Women discussion; but now I just can’t. The situation in Haiti after Tuesday’s massive earthquake is too distressing to ignore.

I can count on one hand the number of foreign countries I’ve visited in my lifetime (well, maybe 1.5 hands). Haiti is among that relatively small group.

I traveled to Haiti as a high school student with my friend Cathy and her family. Cathy’s family was the kind that had the inclination, social conscience and money to expose their kids to the world. I was along for the ride. Visiting Haiti was my first time outside the U.S. My memories of Haiti include the genuine warmth and directness of the people I met juxtaposed with neighborhoods of cardboard houses and children begging me for money for their next meal.

Thus, listening to and seeing the reports out of Haiti is frighteningly surreal. How can it be that this poorest of countries has been dealt such a devastating blow?  It reminds me of my reaction as I tried to wrap my brain around the growing number of deaths  following the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 (nearly 230,000 died). What must it be like to have loved ones in Haiti and not know their fate? To know that the county’s shaky infrastructure is now non-existent and that it may be impossible to ever learn what happened to friends and family. Or, to actually be in Haiti, walking the streets and realizing there is nobody and nothing to which to turn.

If you are like me, you may be yearning to do something – anything! – to help our Caribbean neighbors and put a dent in the overwhelming sense of helplessness and sadness. Consider making a monetary donation to a relief organization. You can make an online donation to the International Response Fund of the American Red Cross. (According to the site, if you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, mail your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.)

The Salvation Army, which has run schools, clinics, and children’s homes in Haiti since 1950, is also accepting disaster relief donations. Go to the site and you can specify the Haiti Earthquake when you donate.

Whatever you decide to do … pray …  donate … volunteer … let’s all do something to help Wise Women and Wise Men in Haiti.