Silence

I was going through my collection of old newspapers...and I found this.

I remember that earthquake. I was in second grade and we were studying dinosaurs that year, although when the earthquake hit I was coloring in a picture for some other project. I didn't know what it was at first until my teacher started screaming under the tables!

We all ducked and covered, holding the legs of the tables like we'd be instructed to during earthquake drills, and I remember looking out the window and seeing the branches of the willow tree in our playground swinging back and forth and the power lines across the street swaying.

And I thought that a meteor had hit earth and the dinosaurs were going to come back to life. I had an active imagination.

But for all of my terror, for all the drama and huge fonts on newspaper front-pages...it didn't mean anything. One dead. One. And a couple of bricks fell off some old buildings in Pioneer Square.It's not fair for me to complain about grades, or grumpy parents. I am so grateful for what I have, and Haiti, you are never far from my thoughts.

Test "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10

all pictures (minus mine of the newspaper) from national geographic

"Clara was ten years old when she decided that speaking was pointless and locked herself in silence."
-the house of spirits isabel allende