No Resolution

Last night Daniel and I were casually watching this story on ESPN about the Haitian girls under 17 soccer team. We were just lounging on the couch in the comfort of our living room. I was eating taco salad.

The story follows the team after the earthquake profiling what and who individual girls lost in the disaster: homes, food, family... their coach. But they kept playing and competed in the under 17 world cup. This isn't a Mighty Ducks type story though or one of those bio-pic movies recreating an underdog teams rise to victory after overcoming impossible odds. The adversity these girls face is simple to impossible to rise above. Even if they had won their games it may have boosted morale for a brief period of time, but doesn't change the lives they return home to. A few girls are shown in some of the tent cities after becoming homeless. One girl inparticular was orphaned by the earthquake. She lives in one of the hundreds of thousands of tents that are just a few steps below the slum home she lost in the quake. She lives there alone. She is just a kid and she has no one to take care of her. They're all gone...dead.

When the piece was finished I looked at Daniel and asked what we could do. He said there's not much we can do. The poverty of this country was insurmountable well before the earthquake. ESPN interviewed the journalist who documented the story of these girls. She soundly just as helpless and defeated as we felt watching it. She talked about how after most stories there was some sort of resolution, optimism, or hope. But after leaving Haiti and this team of girls she had no answer for what could or should be done. Not every story has a happy ending or can be tied up with a pretty pink ribbon. Sometimes things are just bad and sad and they don't get any better.

There was one portion of the story that was simply beautiful despite the lack of full redemption in the greater story. Their first game in the tournament was against the US. The lost by a lot and after the game the keeper laid on the field unmoving. Her coach walked out to her defeated shell to escort her off the field and back to her team. The white skinned, pretty blonde and brunette girls from the US team met her before she could reach the sideline. They opened their arms and embraced her. The Haitian goalie collapsed into their huddle and rested her head on one girl's shoulder. And they cried together. One US girl is shown weeping after leaving the scene. Daniel looked over at me and said he couldn't help but cry at the sight. As I often take my emotional cues from him, this admittance gave me permission to release the tears I had felt the need to keep at bay. So I cried too, right there into my taco salad. It was so sad. But it was also so beautiful. A shared moment of compassion and grieving between affluent American girls who like most of us cannot fathom extreme poverty and loss and this Haitian girl who will go back to a tent, motherless, hungry, and alone.

This moment didn't fix anything. Their shared tears and embraces didn't change the situation or the life she'll return too. But it was still real. It was still worth it. There may not have been any practical result or productivity from the moment. But the element of redemption was still present. It was a glimpse into the restoration that God intends for all of creation. Though his intentions will take place on an infinite level, I think he is at work in the finite, temporary, small, and quiet moments too. No these moments won't change the world, but that doesn't deem them as devoid of any value. You cannot rob a moment of its beauty just because there's nothing to show for it after its passing. I'm sorry there's no resolution for this post. I'm really sorry there's no resolution for Haiti and its people. God's ways are not my ways and this event and my confusion over it just further proves this point.