TakeFour: As If the Plight Isn't Bad Enough.

Well, unless you've been living under a rock, you should know about the tragic Haiti earthquakes. Yes, the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that has taken approximately 50,000 lives. And after this devastating wrath of Mother Nature took place, many rushed in as volunteer workers to help the wounded. Thumbs up to them.

However there is always a flip-side to things I suppose. Amid the many thousands of volunteers going about their good deeds, there has been a recent headline where a man was murdered by a policeman over a mere sack of rice. It really makes you think: Wow. The scenario then was like this:
Five bags of rice which fell from a truck were found by two men on the street. Thus, the policemen assumed that they were stealing these sacks of rice, and probably to them, that was good enough a reason to pull the trigger. Four bullets were fired, and both men were shot from the back, however only one survived.
What's worse: his body was just left there for two days.

By most economic measures, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. An average salary in Haiti is $2 per day. It is one of the world's poorest and least developed countries, and about 80% of the population were estimated to be living in poverty in 2003. So I guess its fair to say that their police force is not the most well-equipped, nor well-trained. However, I feel that although they might lack basic skills and instructions, they should have the moral righteousness to put their fire-arms down and instead clarify the matter. Right now, resources are extremely scarce and people might turn to theft for survival, and if the police start firing away at sight of one stealing food, I guess that weapons-related murder will be the second reason for the death of many in Haiti. What do you think?

God Bless Haiti.