Frustration.

Today I got very frustrated at work with our customers. I work at Fashion Bug, and as part of help for Haiti, we offer the option to round up your total (ex. $12.59 to $13.00) and donate the change to the American Red Cross to help with Haiti. I was extremely excited when I was told we would be doing this. We did this for Coats for Kids one year, and it was very successful.
I was very shocked when I started to offer this to customers. I am appalled and embarrassed at our customers reactions. Most get aggravated when I simply ask. Then they start explaining to me how we have kids in America starving etc. and how we need the money to go here. I understand and agree with this, but this is what really pisses me off; Are these people personally donating to kids in America? Have they ever volunteered a day in their lives? Seriously people. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. So how dare you think we are more important and hold the livelihood of our citizens over Haitians lives. There are people who lost their children, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc in this devastating event. In America, we have the option to find food if we are staving. They didn't have that option before this tragedy hit.
And my favorite rebuttal; "but they didn't help us when Katrina hit". Seriously people? Are we taking score? What would the Haitian people have to offer us during Katrina? They were living worse than our Katrina victims during their regular daily lives.
If you were in their situation, wouldn't you want someone to come and help you? Pull your trapped and dying child out of rubble? I would hope someone else would have the compassion to help my children.
So today I got chills when a woman came in with her young daughter, who didn't have much herself, was more than happy to donate and begged me to let her donate $5 because it was all she could afford. After my day of frustration and nausea over this display of heartlessness, she was a gleam of light. People are all the same. Our lives are no more important than any one's in a third world country.
I understand this is a topic of high debate and controversy right now, and I don't expect you to agree with me. All I'm asking is picture your own child, parent, best friend under some rubble, or sleeping in the streets starving, and try to at least relate to the Haitians in their time of devastation.