Catastrophic disasters open a window of opportunity to fundamentally change how cities are rebuilt," Olson said. "If it's rebuilt in the same fashion (as it is now), our children are going to have this same conversation.This quote came from an article that I read today on Yahoo! News. The article was titled "Why Haiti keeps getting hammered by disasters". The list of catastrophic events over the past few years was incredible; there was this week's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, four tropical storms/hurricanes in 2008, severe storms in 2005 and 2004, and floods in 2007, 2006, 2003 (twice), and 2002.
Richard Olson, who is a professor at Florida International University, answered the question of why Haiti keeps getting hammered by disasters with four reasons; hurricane track, tectonics, environmental degradation and poverty. The first two are unchangeable characteristics to the country. However, reducing the amount of environmental degradation and working with the country to lower its rate of poverty could help Haiti tremendously.
As I watched the news tonight, I was again blown away at the real disaster that the country of Haiti is facing right now. Dead bodies are lined up in the streets; survivors are dying from injuries, dehydration, and infections; and children and people of all ages are left alone, not being able to find their family and friends.
To think, if Haiti wasn't trapped in its poverty, the results right now could be somewhat different... although we will never know. Environmental degradation is a big issue for Haiti. They lead the hemisphere in tree-clearing, making themselves more vulnerable to mudslides and flooding. Catastrophic events, one after another, mean rebuilding cities over and over. The architecture and process of rebuilding a city is not at its best in Haiti. Tools, money and skills are needed that, quite frankly, are not available in the country. And if they were, there is no time to follow codes and safety procedures because people need to keep on living and making their living.
As I neared the end of the article, I found myself thinking about what I had just read. Then, the last paragraph just caught my attention. It said, "'Catastrophic disasters open a window of opportunity to fundamentally change how cities are rebuilt,' Olson said. 'If it's rebuilt in the same fashion (as it is now), our children are going to have this same conversation.'"
I thought about that for a little while. It may not mean much more than what it simply says. I mean, there is truth to what Olson said. From a literal standpoint, if cities aren't being strongly rebuilt, there will be a cyclic issue of disaster. But now, imagine reading that and thinking of it in terms of your own personal life.
"Catastrophic disasters" or maybe just relational problems, monetary issues, health problems... "open a window of opportunity to fundamentally change how cities" or maybe lives... "are rebuilt." I may be stretching it here, but maybe not. In our lives, there are struggles that we'll have to face and struggles that we've already overcome or maybe not...yet. The struggles, these "catastrophic disasters" (maybe quotes aren't even needed) are things that God has put in our lives for a reason. Many times, we don't know the reason. Many times we may find out the reasons, but later on in life. Other times, we may never find out the reasons, but who are we to ask God why?
Aren't these the points in our lives where we have the chance to really change? I can tell you that struggles in my life have been experiences where God has drawn me nearer. I couldn't do anything else BUT rely on God. Then, these exact moments are the ones that take you through the even bigger struggles.
When we are faced with hardships, we can't let ourselves get knocked down and then stay down. We need to get back up; we need to be rebuilt. Let's allow these hardships to be the "window of opportunity to fundamentally change how" our very own lives are rebuilt. But, let's allow God to do the rebuilding.
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