Haiti Relief: Contribution vs Commitment

I got an email yesterday from the father of one of my classmates back at Central Montcalm High School in Stanton, Michigan. My classmate, Cathee Zilch, is an Navy nurse and is aboard the hospital ship the USNS Comfort which left yesterday for Haiti for what may be an extended deployment.

There has been a tremendous call for contributions in the wake of the Haiti earthquake but Chuck's email reminded me of old fable about commitment that I learned when I grew up on the farm in Michigan. A chicken and a pig were discussing their involvement in a good breakfast meal. The chicken boasted that she contributed eggs. Of course, it takes a higher level of commitment for the pig to contribute bacon.

Many of us wish, of course, that we could make more than a contribution. In the wake of Katrina, I made a decision to make a similar, though far more minor, commitment to assist in evacuations by flying AngelFlight missions to/from the staging area in Baton Rouge.

Cathee and her shipmates are facing a six-month plus deployment. To Cathee and your shipmates, thank you for your commitment, good luck, be safe, and the rest of us will think of you as we merely make contributions to the cause.

Update: Here is a link to a related article in our hometown newspaper: http://www.thedailynews.cc/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=32296&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=11&S=1.