Disaster in the Gulf Celebrity Telethon: major fail or major success?

Hello blog world. This is my first post, so I'm going to give you a quick run down. The deal is, I'm a normal, regular girl, probably a lot like yourself, and I have a passion for many things in life. I want my voice to be heard, so I decided to catch up to the year 2010 and get on this thing call blogspot. In short, I have a lot to say, and hopefully a few of you out there will take the time to listen. I'm just a girl from Long Island who serves tables at the Cheesecake Factory for a living, so if you read what I say (you don't even have to like it, I promise), maybe I'll hook you up with a slice of cheesecake, if you're lucky.

First thing on the list tonight, who saw the CNN Disaster in the Gulf telethon? A few days ago I found out that Larry King was putting this together, and I couldn't have been more thrilled. Before I continue, I want to thank the celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Pete Wentz, Jenny McCarthy, Cameron Diaz, Ian Somerhalder, and all the others who gave their time to support such a worthy cause. Your efforts do not go unnoticed, and you are an inspiration to the average joe's and plain jane's of America, like me. What I am about to say is in no way a dig or disrespect to all that you have done, I have nothing but thanks for you.

Months ago our country helped out with Hope For Haiti and raised over 9.4 million dollars.

This year, Idol Gives Back raised 45 million dollars! I don't even know if I can count that high! As you probably already know, Idol Gives Back is a charity that benefits less fortunate areas of the globe.

So when I heard about the CNN Telethon for the gulf, I thought HELL YEAH! I keep hearing on the news how it is going to take BILLIONS of dollars to clean up that disastrous mess down there, and I was really excited to see celebrities come together to help OUR country in such an incredible time of need. During the Haiti telethon, there were celebrities like Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, tons of A-Listers and oscar winners. So, of course, I expected something much like that for the Gulf.

Turns out the telethon for the Gulf couldn't even hold a candle to all the efforts our country did for Haiti. So far, it raised a little over 1 million dollars, which is a ton of money, but in comparison to the BILLIONS of dollars BP needs to clean that mess up, it's nothing.

I am not trying to downplay the terrible events that happened in January in Haiti, or what goes on every single day all over this Earth. I know the world needs a lot of fixing and curing, but I am an American first. Thank god we didn't lose so many thousands of people like Haiti did, and I will forever have a broken heart for all that they have went through, but our country too has suffered a tremendous loss from the damn oil spill. Think of all that we have gone through over the last 9 years, with 9/11, the recession, the war, hurricane Katrina, the list goes on. Point is, we need money! And people like Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, etc., are so quick to join forces and donate what they can to help all these countries (which, again, I want to emphasize how grateful I am for that, because God knows I don't have an extra million laying around), but I want to see them do the same for us!

You just cant compare 1 million to the 9.4 Hope for Haiti raised, or the 45 million Idol Gives Back raised, all of which our country did not benefit from, other than the satisfaction of helping people. We need money, and we need it yesterday. The effects our country will see from the Gulf are going to be long lasting, and it is only going to get worse. The count of wildlife that has been killed is far too high, and that effects the entire food chain. There is a circle of life, and we are ruining that.

There is no one to blame for all this but human beings. We are planning our own funeral. Americans need to grow a pair and realize the damage that is being done each and every day, we need to band together and put an end to this. Our life on this Earth is a gift, and it is being ruined and tampered with by greed. If you thought the unemployment rate sucks now, its only going to get worse due to the loss of fisheries in the south and fishermen's inability to continue working. It's a complete domino effect.

1 million is a great start, but we need more, A LOT MORE! Remember how you felt when you heard about Haiti? Or the pain you feel when you read about malaria taking over villages in Africa? Or the heartache you feel when you read about Tsunami's wiping out thousands of people and towns? Well now it is happening to us, our country, and the effects will be around for decades. It's time to act up people! No time but RIGHT NOW!

I will keep my prayers with the gulf, the wildlife, the fisherman, and the people who will be forced to deal with this nightmare that BP has caused. I hope you will too, and remember this the next time you want to donate 20 bucks to a charity.

We have the best country in the world, it has given us life and freedom and the pursuit of happiness, now it's time to give her something back.

xoxo

Riss