Newton’s third law of motion reads, in the colloquial form, "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." It may be a bit of a stretch, but I think this can be applied to human behavior as well.

As you might expect, I have nothing but sympathy for everyone suffering in Haiti, and for their friends and families in other countries. I gave as much money as I could afford to, and although it’s distressing that it took something like this for people to realize how impoverished Haiti is, there are thousands and thousands of people performing commendable and downright heroic acts to help out everyone affected by the disaster.

But then you’ve got some others. You’ve got the lovely Rush saying we already give money to Haitian relief by paying income tax. You’ve got Mr. Robertson saying the devastation was caused by a pact made with the devil several centuries ago. (And here’s a succinct debunking of everything Pat said.) And, on an unrelated note that I just feel like sharing because I can, you’ve got the Pope going after the gays again (one of his very favorite things to do).

We could try and ignore them, sure. Pretend their words have never reached our ears. But of course they are three massively influential men, so even if we look the other way, many other people will do no such thing.

What this means is that we can never be complacent. We can never sit back and be fully satisfied. Those of us who believe in tolerance, equality, compassion - no matter how you define these terms - are not allowed to rest.


As long as these reactions continue, we cannot stop taking action.

And that’s it for tonight.

Peace and love
Justin PBG