The Common Good March 2010  Living and Loving Through Tragedy
by Edwidge Danticat | March 2010   I was at the supermarket at
my home in Florida with my two young daughters when my sister-
in-law called to ask if I’d heard that there had been an
earthquake in Haiti. I was a bit stunned. “Earthquake?” I said.
“Are you sure?” She said it was 7.0. That didn’t quite register
for me. Then she said it was catastrophic.  Like millions of
other Haitians in and outside of Haiti, I was nearly out of my
mind with worry. Everyone has seen the images. The fallen
buildings. The dead bodies covered with sheets on the street.
The amputees. We have also seen the resilient Haitian spirit. In
their worst hours, people were singing. The world is more
intimately acquainted with that Haitian spirit than it has ever
been in the past. The best of Haiti has been on display, even as
the country continues to suffer.  The standout media image for
me is of a little boy named Kiki coming out of the rubble with
both his hands raised in the