too late.

Yesterday, at our campus bookstore, I purchased the newest issue of Time, which has President Obama on the cover. I've tried to read it several times, and it's not for my lack of interest in the article, it's my frustration.

And not with our President.

On January 12, there was a 7.0 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This is news to no one. Millions of people lost their homes or, worse, their lives. The people of Haiti are struggling. It is devastating.

But it is not as if their struggle is new. Yes, it is worse, but new? Not even close.

Haiti is a country in poverty. Many of the people that live there own only a one-room shack and cannot feed their children. War has ravaged their country. They are in desperate need of help from those that can.

And all of a sudden, everyone can.

It is moments like these, like the Tsunami in 2004 or Katrina in 2005, that remind me why I work for an organization like the ONE Campaign. Every organization has office politics and kinks that need to be worked out, and I might get frustrated occasionally, but ONE is not waiting until our international brothers and sisters are in dire straits to help them. They are trying to conquer the problem now, jumping in with more force when an earthquake or tsunami happens.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't help places devastated by natural disasters. Of course we should; natural disasters are directly caused by no one and assistance is often necessary. But explain this to me - why is it that during natural disasters, not directly caused by man, people jump out of their seats to help, but when countries are in poverty, which is caused by man, it is so hard to get people to help?

I just wish more people would help those poverty-stricken countries now, instead of later. Later can often be too late.