A picture on the front page of the Seattle Times the other day caught my eye.

I picked it up and read the caption: Haiti: teen boy searches for his mom and dad, among hundreds of dead bodies.

I had previously heard about the earthquake in Haiti but could never fully comprehend the horror of it until I saw that visual. Its impact on me was incredible. I felt for the boy in the photo, I wanted to drop everything right then and there and go help him search.

I felt like reassuring him that everything was going to be OK, although I know that’s not the case. As I stood in the kitchen of my warm house, wearing my slippers and drinking tea, I thought about my life in comparison to the boy in the picture.

At first I was just confused. Why do such horrible things have to happen to people who are already suffering? There are kids, my own age, who have very little to live for. They have lost everything they’ve ever known — all that was good in their lives. I will most likely live my entire life without experiencing even a fraction of the horror that the people of Haiti have had to experience throughout one month.

If there is a God, and He is good, why did he allow this? Maybe he simply spilled his Starbucks on the “natural disaster” button of his control panel. Or maybe he pushed it himself.

If so, does he think that there is something to gain from this catastrophe? Is there anything to be learned?

I have decided that I’m going to make a financial contribution to Haiti after I choose a reliable charity, knowing it only plays a small part in the devastation.

It’s frustrating to know that I’m at a point in my life right now where I cannot just pack my things and travel to Haiti to work with an organization; although this is what I would like to do.

I’ve considered joining the Peace Corps when I’m older, so that I’ll be able to help countries comparable to Haiti without just throwing my money at them. But instead, I want to help by being an active participant in serving others.

Some say that everything happens for a reason. I don’t.

There is simply no reason why, as I watch “Gossip Girl” re-runs, a teenage boy should be searching for his parents in a field of dead bodies.

None.

Jesse Ewing-Frable is a junior at Redmond High School. Teen Talk is a regular column written by local teenagers.