In the midst of a tragic experience the real core personality is revealed. The gut reaction is telling about the outcome of the situation. Some will collapse, some will sink into depression, some will be stimulated as if on adrenaline, some will very sentimental unable to act, others will be mad and ready to fight. In the Haitian situation of post earthquake 2010 it is worrisome to see that the nation as a whole is reacting along the line of depression. One thing is sure the Haitian society is neither mad nor stimulated to work hard. Instead the Haitian society is depressive and is finding comfort in sentimentality.

When you see men start to sing “Haiti chérie, pi bel payi passé ou nan poin”; when you see emails showing beautiful landscapes of the country being gladly circulated because they bring conform to the Haitian hearts; when you see no public expression of personal resolution to change this country; when you hear no outrage or call of action being circulated all over the communication media, you know that such a nation is sinking into a profound and serious depression. Depression being the minimal form of reaction an entity can exhibit without being dead. It is the reaction from an entity using this last resource to send a message of dignity.

However one might say “Brother what did you do?”. I would reply today I am furious and I write, tomorrow I might be furious and do something else. There is a time for everything. During a struggle even artists do not produce songs about the beauty of nature but they compose songs such as “Grenadier a l’assaut, sa ki mouri zafè a yo. Nan poin manman, nan poin papa, sa ki mouri zafè a yo!”. Artists such as Mano Charlemagne would sing « Immigration tintin met min nan collêt moin, yo di’m  pa citizen.” Ou encore “Moin gin lespri konnia .» Today the voice of hope and redemption should be the voices of outrage, anger and songs of war. If we were in a tribal setting, this would have been a time reserved for the shamans, the griots, the drummers, and the warriors to take center stage in the town square and perform the war dance for the rest of the tribes to observe and be inspired.

For this nation, this is the time for the intellectuals, the economical elite, the engaged artists, the maverick politicians, the bold and independent local leaders, the technicians with proper knowledge to stand up and perform the dance of development and change. Then the people will form a circle around them to observe them, to be captivated by the beat of the drums of ideas, and to be inspired to be better, work harder and act smarter.

This is not the time for real men to take comfort in praising Haiti ’s natural beauty. This is cheap pride. We did not create the beaches, the mountains, the rivers and the sea. These were given by the creator to all other Caribbean islands. Real men will only take pride in the fruits of the labor of their own hands and what their sweat generated.

Please do not sink in the self pity reaction of being in awe about and marvel at the situation in Dominican Republic as if it was the product of magic. Let us take the resolution for 10 years to just do what the Dominicans did and you will see we will have similar results. The Dominican Republic is doing well not because Dominicans are special people, but because as normal people they are not foolish enough to do what the supposed smart and sophisticated Haitians are doing.

Among other things, the Dominicans are not saying that their citizens who live abroad and acquired another nationality are no longer Dominicans, the Jamaicans are not saying that either. The Dominicans are not saying that foreigners cannot come to acquire lands and freely invest in tourism in the Santiago area, this in order to show their supposed patriotism. They are not marginalizing the remainder of their country to the supposed benefit of their capital Santo Domingo . They are nationalistic about their country current status and development instead of being nationalistic about their country’s supposedly past glory.  They do not count on the past to justify the present but are focused on building the present in homage to the past.

Let us do these things and Haiti would be like the Dominican Republic . I do not know if one notices that these actions do not cost money for their establishment, they are just policies, an affair of state of minds. Start first by changing the Haitian state of mind that produces the mentioned absurd decisions and everything else will be added to this country as a bonus including the bonuses of progress, peace, pride and respect