Tony Ryan

So help me, if just one person complains to me in the next two weeks about having to go back to work, I’ll dropkick them. If ever there has been an issue that has challenged us to appreciate just how lucky most of us are (well, most of us in the ‘Western’ world), then surely the Haiti earthquake has been the definitive one.

Trying to sort through the media scrum in their reporting of this disaster is always problematic, yet it’s pretty obvious that the magnitude of this event is as momentous as any that has occurred in the past fifty years on Earth.

And so, we each have a choice. We can express our sympathies at the next coffee club meeting, and roll our eyes at the misery being faced by so many of our fellow citizens (and they are our fellow citizens. They’re just in another country. Which happens to be on the same planet).

Or, we can each really do something about this.

So here’s at least one thing you can do. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably involved in education. If you are, then get involved in the School Aid appeal. School Aid have teamed up with Plan Australia and Save the Children to launch a co-ordinated appeal to all school students. A guaranteed 90% of all funds raised will be directly spent on the kids who are still alive in Haiti. If you encourage your students to raise funds for this cause, it will essentially be a case of Kids Helping Kids. And that’s just the sort of world we all want to see being created up ahead.

When a disaster of this magnitude occurs, it’s obvious that the world must unite for the one cause, and provide the support that is so necessary. If you’re socially just, you’ll appreciate the worth of this sentiment.

Get your students involved. It’s good for them; and it’s good for the planet. At the very least, it might go a small way towards helping lots of kids who desperately need it right now.