At least for Haiti and the Red Cross this proved true as more than “three million people have texted “Haiti” to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the American Red Cross. At some periods during the month, more than 100,000 transactions were made in less than an hour, said James Eberhard, chairman of mGive.com, a subsidiary of Mobile Accord Inc. that donated its services and the mGive platform used to collect the donations.” The text “Haiti” campaign raised $32 million in a month. Maybe technology isn’t so bad and our ways of getting involved in causes is as simple as picking up the phone. I believe that the response by people to make donations is just another sign of the innate good in people.

Read More:

• Text “HAITI” to 90999
• American Red Cross Pledges Initial $1 Million to Haiti Relief
• Text donations for Haiti earthquake overwhelm Red Cross
• Text ‘Haiti’ earthquake relief effort raises $32M for Red Cross

So, honestly how many times have you heard that saying? Or how about “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” I know I have heard it umpteen times and I also am guilty of passing it along to my kids; however, after the snow storm that hit Washington DC I am in awe of how many people applied it! After the snow mellowed down, 2000 people took to a fun snowball fight. This is what I love about people how we can make the best of any situation. I have to give credit where credit it due and these guys truly do know how to fun even after a storm. Bravo, DC!

Read More:

• 2,000 join in snowball fight at Dupont Circle in D.C.
• Washington’s mass snowball fight
• Dupont Circle Snowball Fight: 2,000 People Gather In Washington DC for Epic Battle
• DuPont Circle snowball fight erupts as Washington, DC blasted by snow storm

Who says you have to be an adult to make a difference? Charlie Simpson raised $240,000 for UNICEF for Haiti. His message was simple:

“My name is Charlie Simpson. I want to do a sponsored bike ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives . . . I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti,” he said.

With the aide of the internet this little boy has not only achieved his goal but surpassed it! It’s stories like these that reaffirm why the internet is a powerful tool. Hats off to you Charlie, keep up the good work!

Read More:

• Charlie’s Fundraising Page
• Boy, 7, raises $240,000 for Haiti appeal
• London boy’s bike ride for Haiti raises more than £200,000

I think some of the most uplifting stories of 2010 have been those associated with the rescue efforts in Haiti. After the devastating earthquake, I think we all were glued to either our TV or computers to catch glimpses of hope in the form of lives saved! I know as I watched all teary eyed my belief in humanity and life was reaffirmed by each moment that someone put their heart and sole into helping others. It is this single act that keeps hope in humanity alive.

Read Some of the Stories:

• Haiti rescuers pull man alive from rubble after 11 days
• Another miracle: Girl rescued 15 days after Haiti’s earthquake, renews hope
• Haitian rescued after 12 days
• French teen rescued 15 days after Haiti quake is stable
• Haiti man rescued after 27 days in quake rubble
• Eight-year-old boy rescued after a week in the rubble

So, today I had to go to the post office to mail a letter, it took me thirty minutes since there was only one person there to assist approximately ten of us. I didn’t mind the wait, and in all honesty I have to admit that the lady was working very fast under the circumstances. But there were, however, many individuals who were not too thrilled with the wait and were constantly making snide remarks. While all this was going on, one thought jumped into my head: “Is this going to be the future of the healthcare system in our country?”

The post office is apparently suffering quite badly from the recession; I also believe I heard that FedEx and UPS have put it pretty much out of business. But did even once, the government pause to think why this is the case? With time being of the essence and more and more people wanting things done yesterday, can we truly expect people to continue to use their lunch breaks in the post office? And tomorrow will that mean that we will continue to expect to spend our time sitting in a government run health care office? I am all for the health reform – I cannot begin to state how delighted I would be to see everyone get health care coverage. On the other hand, I have to be honest and state my fear in how the system will get abuse. Already our government run schemes end up being abused and taken advantage of. I can only imagine what will become of a government run health care program.

I think one thing that many people tend to forget is that currently our system is such that if someone was to fall sick the hospital has to offer its services. That is, that for the most part everyone is taken care of. There are programs out there that assist those that need the help that is required to get medical coverage you have to just meet the basic requirements. I think that one thing that frightens me is that currently as we are hurting to get out of recession can we honestly just jump into a complete overall of the health care program?

Our healthcare system is not perfect. It is not perfect in any part of the world. There are always shortcomings. I hear from my relatives in England how they don’t like the coverage they get in the UK; so I guess it goes back to the fundamental human belief in the fact that the grass is always greener on the other side.  I think we are in need of change, but maybe it should be in fine tuning our insurance companies instead of trying to re-haul the system all together.  I don’t have the answers, that is for sure, but I do think that we should not rush into any such programs in haste. Right now, our focus should be getting out of a recession and getting into the green. Maybe the money we are supposedly going to use to build this health program can instead be used to get us back on our feet. I firmly believe that once we are on our feet and doing better as a society collectively, we can then start to focus on fixing the issues of health and education that are prevalent in our communities.