Touchy subject alert

For the first time that I can remember, I actually thought twice about writing this blog, mainly because the content might be viewed as controversial to some people. Then I thought "It's my blog, I'll write what I want". So I did.

This earthquake in Haiti is pretty bad. Now I've got my entry for Understatement of the Year out of the way, I can concentrate on the terrible goings on in one of the poorest nations in the world. Last week, a decent-sized quake more or less razed the capital leaving estimated thousands of people dead and many more homeless and/or injured.

Usually, when Peter Sissions says "Some viewers may find some parts of the next report disturbing" I tend to find said footage pretty lame. Yes, people are injured and crying and what have you, but it's all too easy to detach yourself from it when it doesn't affect you in a day-to-day context. The Haiti coverage however has actually had me feeling bad for the poor bastards stuck in what seems like a living hell. The number of little kids killed can't fail to have an impact, and once I've got the details squared up I'll be making a donation. It literally is the least I can do.

Of course, this wouldn't be my blog if I didn't court a bit of controversy.

Last night I found myself shouting at one of the medical volunteers for moaning.

It started with some dramatic footage of a woman about to give birth. Given the utter knackeredness of the hospital, the maternity ward had actually been set up in the street, and this poor cow was about to deliver a nipper in the middle of the road. Being sensitive to the privacy of the woman, the cameraman shot over and starting getting a right eyeful, to the point that they had to pixelate her bits. In amongst this, there were anguished cries. However, expecting it to be the mother, I was surprised to discover it was actually an American volunteer nurse who was screeching. Apparently it was a breached birth (nope, me neither) and she was squawking about how she couldn't do a breached birth in these conditions, with her voice audibly filling up with tears.

"Hang on a minute", thunk I, "Isn't it your job to do this kind of thing? Yes, the conditions aren't exactly A1, but the entire city's fallen down. And lest we forget that you actually chose to do this. What did you expect to find - The Ritz?"

Now, not for a second am I decrying the obvious emotional trauma these heroic volunteers must be going through, but it is my belief that the type of people who volunteer to do this must be of sufficient mettle to cope with it. Fair enough, feel a bit sad when you first see the devastation but keep it to yourself and do the job you're not being paid to do. You're not helping anybody by carping on when the shit's hitting the fan, especially when you're surrounded by people who have lost life and limb in the last few days and are currently starving to death. By all means flip out when you're on your own, but right now these people need you to man up and sort this shit out because they don't have the tools or the skills to do it themselves.

A bit later she was back, bemoaning the fact that the only thing she had to cut an umbilical cord was an unsterilised knife. Fair enough, that's terrible, but the powers that be aren't doing it on purpose to make it more interesting. It's been widely reported that planes are being turned away because the airport is full of aid which they can't get off the apron because there's precious little fuel about to power the lorries. They're doing the best they can so you'll just have to hang on, and if you can't hang on, use the bloody knife.

As I said, I feel nothing but admiration and respect towards these people, but like all walks of life, it's the minority who spoil it for everybody else. If you don't like it, go home. At least you've got one to go to...