Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Haitian Relief: With A Jesuit Brother And Team Rubicon Haiti

Assembling a second team to go to Haiti. In need of: ER doctors, EMTs with pediatric skills. Rally point will be Fayetteville, NC. Click here for more info.

Father Karl Kiser, S.J. uses a BlackBerry. I do not but will give it a try. At Christmas I told my friend, Father Jim Williams, that some day I hoped to have a love for the Haitian people that was not based on pity.
This island seemed like a latrine, and the people only to be pitied. Pity is not bad, but it makes you the superior; it sets up an inequality and puts me at the top.
After what I have seen these last few days, now when it would make most sense to pity these poor people I have none. My pity has grown to respect and admiration. Over night I have come to love these people in a way that makes them a model for me, and clearly puts them on a higher plane than I will ever be.

Furthermore you can tell a tree by its fruit. Over the years some fine students of mine have joined the US military, and I have even encouraged some to do so.
That said I have not been the greatest supporter of our soldiers. I have even protested our military at Fort Benning. After seeing how our military has formed the men I am now with my opinion has changed. I am not ashamed that I have protested, but can say with a great deal of certitude I would never do that again.
The boys I am with are who they are because of their military training. They are far more prepared to serve than if they had been reading Thomistic philosophy the last 10 years, and quite frankly, I'm glad they haven't.

Br. Jim Boynton, S.J.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Link (here) to Team Rubicons action packed blog post.

Photo is of Br. Jim holding an IV (here)

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