You raise important questions that we are forced to admit we do not have the answers to one way or the other. I think what you said to your children about what happens to our bodies after death was well put. But I admit I’m curious as to if you believe in any kind of a concept of a soul, as separate from the body, or a consciousness that exists from the body after death. I ask because although you are atheist, meaning you don’t believe in a God, there seems to be some who call themselves atheist who believe ( or hold out for the possibility) that we do possess a soul or a consciousness separate from our body that does continue on in some fashion after death. I was so surprised to hear this, and thought, then why do they call themselves ‘atheist’? But that could be total ignorance on my part. Originally I had thought that all atheists believed in no God, and no afterlife. But, as I mentioned, it seems not all atheists think that the one has to denote the other. I wondered if you would mind mentioning your thoughts on that. Do you know if these types of atheists are a very small minority within atheism, or would not really be considered ‘atheist’ by most atheists? Totally random here, but I am a little curious. Please know that this is not a set up for an attack on what you belief one way or the other. I’m just curious about a concept (is that an appropriate description for atheism?) that I don’t know much about.

I realize this draws away from the point of your post though, which was so beautifully put, about taking action in the face of real tragedy, regardless of your beliefs. I apologize if this is an inappropriate comment to make to this post, please know that I do not mean to draw you into a debate. I wasn’t sure where else to ask it.

Anyhow, thanks for the tip on OxFam, I’ve never heard of them before. And thanks for the thought-provoking post.

Something I love about Haitians is that they give a running commentary on life with clever proverbs and sayings. One of my favorite sayings when something goes wrong is: “Ala traka, Papa!” Which loosely translated means: What a mess, Father! But what matters now is to work together to alleviate the suffering in Haiti caused by this terrible earthquake – whether it is divinely-created or divinely-allowed – and to remember that Haiti is a fragile country and will need even more assistance in the years to come.