St. Charles Preparatory School January 2010 TheThe CarolianCarolian Official Newspaper Publication of St. Charles Preparatory School QUICK Haiti Tragedy Is Another Call NEWS: for Long Term Efforts St. Charles raises Will Ryan ‘10 over $11,000 for relief in Haiti! On January 12th, a massive, to rise as relief workers strug- The American Red Cross has 7.0—magnitude earthquake gle to pull survivors from the raised $25 million through St. Charles hockey struck the country of Haiti, near rubble. More than 200,000 lost donations sent in by text team beats the the capital city of Port-au- their lives in only nine days. messaging. Actor George bears for the Prince. Haiti is an island nation Fresh water, food, and gasoline Clooney has teamed with second time this located in the Caribbean next are in short supply. The coun- Haitian Wyclef Jean, a former season. to the Dominican Republic. try’s leaders fear that looting singer for the Fugees, to stage Haiti, a former French slave will become a major problem. a telethon for the country. The Top Ten colony, is the Western Hemi- People from all over the world Bono and Jay-Z are also Defining Moments sphere’s poorest country. collaborating on a new song to of the Past Ten have responded to help a Massive aftershocks have also nation that many thought was raise money for Haiti. Years are in. added to the devastation. The on the verge of stability for the Haiti’s immediate future is not Living Like T. presidential palace, Port-au- first time. Former Presidents very bright. However, Haiti Chase Meacham Prince’s main hospital and Bill Clinton and George W. Bush can succeed. It needs hits YouTube. thousands of other buildings are acting as special envoys to more than fresh water and have collapsed. The city’s aid the Haitian people. medical care. Haiti needs a airport is also feeling the President Obama has pledged long-term rebuilding plan. aftermath of the earthquake. $100 million from the govern- President René Préval knows The slums surrounding Port-au- ment, and about 15,000 Ameri- this, and is doing everything in Prince are nearly inaccessible, can troops are in Haiti aiding his power to build a sustain- INSIDE THIS and the death toll is continuing U.N. peacekeepers. able Haiti. ISSUE: Civilians of Haiti Aid to Haiti 2 salvage items from destroyed Guatemala Service Trip 3 homes. Photo courtesy Osaze’s Trip to Nigeria 5 of time.com, photographer The Top Ten Defining Timothy Fadek. Moments of the Past Ten 6,7 Years Columbus’ Irresponsible 8 Spending The Top Albums of the 10, Decade 11 Living Like T. Chase 12 Meacham Page 2 INTERNATIONAL NEWS The Carolian After Aid, the best thing Americans can do is not Forget Alexander Coccia ‘10 While I watched the evening news on be poor, the Haitians are poor and are Forgetting happens so easily. Those my wide screen television set, always going to be dependent on aid who are even usually vigilant will You were terrorized and taunted by a from other nations, and there is noth- ing we can do for countries as poor sometimes have that lapse in dictatorship government. and damaged as Haiti. International thought and say, “What?” The sad While I read the newspaper and drank truth is that after a catastrophe columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote in an my cup of steaming coffee, such as the earthquakes in Haiti, editorial for The New York Times that many Americans who had banded You walked the dusty, hot miles to the “that kind of self-fulfilling fatalism may together to send aid and help save tiny, crowded schoolroom to try to be the biggest threat of all to Haiti.” lives get absorbed back into the learn how to read. At the outset of a tragedy like the mechanical nature of life and forget While I scanned the ads for a bargain earthquakes in Haiti, Americans are about the suffering elsewhere. Per- on an extra piece of clothing, extremely generous with their money. haps “forget” is unfair to some; You woke up and put on the same Over $25 million was raised from text maybe simply “become distracted” shirt and pants that you have worn for messages alone for the American Red is more accurate. Why the word Cross. When it comes to rebuilding, many months. “distracted”? Because it indicates however, the wallets of Americans that our priorities are misplaced. While I built a 14-room house for the close more tightly. What is the over- Servite Sr. Joyce Rupp wrote the three of us, arching feeling that drives Americans following prayer after visits to Your family of 10 found shelter in a to be so transitory in their generosity? Guatemala and Liberia, indicating one-room hut. Is it the constant mobility that is re- our misplaced priorities. This should quired of Americans to succeed in the While I went to church last Sunday be our constant prayer and promise economy and the business sector? Is and felt more than slightly bored, to remember our true priorities: it the individualism that pervades the You looked upon the earth and those American culture of sports stars and around you and felt gratitude to God celebrities? Whatever the answer, it “A Prayer for those who have too for being alive for one more day. must be changed. much.” My brothers and sisters, Charity is one thing, but justice is To my brothers and sisters in Forgive me for my arrogance and my another. We have all heard the prov- developing countries; indifference. erb, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for While I was deciding which oat bran Forgive me for my greed of always a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll cereal to eat this morning, wanting newer, bigger and better eat for a lifetime.” It epitomizes what You were searching the ground for things. must be done when it comes to trage- dies such as in Haiti. Giving aid and leftover grains from the passing Forgive me for not doing my part to money is charity, working for the re- wheat truck. change the unjust systems that keep building of a country and life structure you suffering and impoverished. While I was jogging at the health is justice. Americans are too focused I offer you my promise to become center, on just immediate aid. However, if only more aware of your situation and to immediacy is focused upon, according You were working in the wealthy change my lifestyle as I work for trans- landowner’s fields under a to editor of National Review Online formation of our world. scorching sun. Jonah Goldberg, “Americans will just be back to clear the debris after the While I was choosing between diet next disaster.” and regular soda, “I offer you my promise to become more aware of your situation and to Right now, America’s focus must be Your parched lips were yearning for change my lifestyle as I work for the burial of the dead, the caring for the touch of water. transformation of our world.” We the sick and injured, and the clearing While I complained about the poor must promise to the Haitians, to the of the rubble. The money that Ameri- service in the gourmet restaurant, Sudanese, to the people of the world cans have given contributes in an You were gratefully receiving a bowl that we will work for the transforma- enormous way to that effort. When of rice. tion of the world. Part of this transfor- time has passed, however, attention mation, as Sr. Joyce Rupp wrote, in- must be turned to the rebuilding of the While I poured my “fresh and better volves becoming aware of situations country with stronger roots and detergent” in the washing machine, other than our own dilemmas of which stronger supports. For this to happen, You stood in the river with your shoes to buy. This involves getting rid we cannot become distracted, be- bundle of clothes. of our narrow point of view that says cause that, too, is one of the greatest the people of Haiti are always going to threats to Haiti. St. Charles Preparatory School ST. CHARLES NEWS Page 3 Guatemala Service Trip Conor Feldmann ‘11 We hear about the poverty in America, severely malnourished, but statistics ing day-care assistance in the Santa and it shocks us that here, in the great- mean nothing compared to seeing over Clara Nursery, and completing building est nation on earth, there are people 30,000 Guatemalans live and work in projects necessary for these educa- living on the streets. Many of us see the city dump. Families eagerly await tional institutions. This school and the sleeping bags on the underpass of every Monday--trash day. Men, women, nursery were founded by International 670 and find it hard to believe that one and children scavenge barefooted, Samaritan to work specifically with of the wealthiest countries in the world competing with birds and dogs, hoping children from the neighborhood is unable to provide these people with to find food for their families, tin to sell, surrounding the Guatemala City homes. It amazes U.S. citizens that or a sturdy piece of cardboard to sup- garbage dump. It is imperative that there are people in our country that live port their home. these children get an education, in cardboard boxes and whose only So what? Why would a high school because it is their only way to climb meals come from a generous passerby student have any interest in the issues out of the cycle of poverty.