H.R. 351

Representative Barbara Lee of California has submitted HR 351, calling for the establishment of a commission "to examine and evaluate the role of the United States Government in the February 2004 coup d'etat in the Republic of Haiti." Today I emailed Mike Pence, who is on the House Foreign Affairs committee, to which the bill will be sent, encouraging his support. We'll see if I get any response and am curious as to what his answer will be. I found reference to this bill on page 262 of Robinson's book, "An unspoken agony."

I'm still not sure that Robinson has all the right arguments, although he provides documentation of facts or circumstances or attitudes that form what he believes about Haiti. I just completed another book about Haiti, entitled, "Seven days in Haiti,' by Michael Barrick. I found it full of religious expression one would not hear in a Catholic church. In it he has been told by the person who recommended him to make this one-week trip to a mission in Haiti that he would be "broken open and poured out" while there. This and other platitudinous statements, coupled with his belief that Aristide allowed Voodoo ceremonies to take place in the Presidential Palace and that Haiti was dedicated to the devil in the 1800-something coup, make me want to disregard his entire book.

There is much to digest about Haiti, only a small portion of which is useful to me in our mission trip. But I feel the need to better understand the Haitians--those in Haiti and those I know in the Bahamas. I should have known all this much earlier, just as I should have learned more about the language to better communicate with those with whom I worked and socialized, sang and shared Mass.

It might be said about me that I have too much time on my hands to become this intensely interested and enthusiastic about the upcoming trip. But almost everything I have ever done I have done with this level of intensity. And I know that this disturbs the more equanimous people around me. I apologize for my attitudes only to the extent that they bother someone enough to dismiss me. I'm encouraged by the fact that being interested in many things and being enthusiastic in what I'm engaged are characteristics often ascribed to outstanding teachers. There, I said it without apology.