January 25, 2010

Bide One's Time

Edwidge Danticat
By Lee Prosser

Today is Wednesday and I have witnessed the media reports of the earthquake destruction at Haiti. The destruction and loss of life is massive.

Haiti is an interesting country, and it has a rich background of customs, folklore, paranormal occurrences, religion, ghosts, and intuitive writings by imaginative authors. Haiti has been written about for a long time, and that includes much paranormal research. Such a great tragedy to suddenly befall a country is precisely what has happened to Haiti, and it could certainly happen in the United States. The same track that earthquake followed is the same one that connects and passes through the state of Missouri in which I live. Earthquakes have a way of connecting everybody in one way or another. Whether it is through spiritual contact, physical contact, paranormal contact, or death, earthquakes make those connections.

Only yesterday I had been reading some interesting material on one of Haiti's most imaginative authors. Her name is Edwidge Danticat, and she is a Haitian American. Her many fine books include such titles as Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), Krik, Krak! (1996), The Farming of Bones (1998), Brother, I'm Dying (2007), among others. I am glad she was not killed in the Haitian disaster and will live to write some possible future work about its effects, and affects. She is a fine writer.

To see such a horrible incident happen in a country is sad, very sad. To know that such incidents will come to the United States and other parts of the world is also sad. In geological time, what to humans may be a mere moment in time, may have taken over a hundred years to arrive at from an actual geological encounter such as what happened in Haiti. The same horrible incidents will happen in the United States and elsewhere in the near future. Throughout my life, one of my enduring hobbies has been the study of the science of geology, and nothing happening geologically surprises me.

We live in a time of diminishing returns. When death comes, it always makes some excuse. That is the way of it.

It is hoped that the ghosts and paranormal occurrences which will arise from the debris of the Haiti earthquake will reveal many aspects of the nature of Haitians. It will also show to humanity as a whole, that we are never alone and no person is an island by itself, and the wholeness of our humanity is what holds us together on planet earth.

My wish is that Haiti survives its earthquake holocaust and rebuilds on its strong, prevailing spiritual roots as a people who have long endured hardship, will again endure, and finally, endure. My prayers go out to Haiti and any other country suffering such tragedies of nature, war, and strife. Humanity is at a loss when any part of it is destroyed, and cannot be replaced or healed for its loss. In a time of danger and strife, compassion is sorely needed in this tired old world and with it a rebirth of spiritual awareness which is needed everywhere.

Lee Prosser is Ghostvillage.com's book reviewer and a regular contributor. He is also the author of Missouri Hauntings. among other books. "Bide One's Time" is Prosser's monthly column on his supernatural musings.