an international undertaking ; the heartache on the streets of Haiti has summoned compassionate and heroic assistance from around the globe , all of it deserving of praise and gratitude . But the United States has been at the forefront , as it has so often seemed to be in so many places when hope was in short supply . It is almost beyond imagining to think what has been in the terrified minds of the citizens of Haiti who have been without water , without food , without a way to rescue their trapped and dying children . When there is nothing left to depend on , when all is desolation and despair , what must the hungry and the hurt wish for as they look into the empty distance ? Someone to care . Someone to travel many miles , with the will and the means to heal . The slowness with which medical supplies and water and heavy equipment have reached the people of Haiti has been thoroughly reported . Some of the results of the relief effort have been troubling , beset by bottlenecks and breakdowns under arduous conditions . But this is not about the
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- There was a phrase , or so we have long been told , that was heard in occupied Europe during World War II . It was often said as a whisper , the story goes . It had the sound of a prayer . The words were so simple , but to people who were feeling utterly abandoned and who needed help , those words meant so much . Four words : `` The Americans are coming . '' Sometimes we forget about the power of those words , and about how , for so long , they defined the real meaning of what this country , at its best , could be . Sometimes , in the midst of all the bad news , in the midst of the mistakes this country inevitably makes , we lose sight of how much the people of the United States are counted on by those in need . Which is why the humanitarian efforts in Haiti this month , in the wake of the earthquake , have been a reminder of who we are when we strive to find our finest selves . The relief efforts have been