*SIGH***
i have been following the news about the tsunami religiously. i've never seen so many sad people in my life. on the first few days after it happened i felt nothing but sadness. a few times the tales of the survivors made me cry (i'm a super mushy girl)..but after a while i think i am seeing something good coming out of it…
it may sound unfeeling but i think there is another level at which the tsunami can be looked at and it is positive. no! i don’t mean the loss of lives, livelihood, or properties. that is all so sad and to be regretted. there may be scientific explanation for the recent tsunami. but given things as they are in the world today, there would have been little to be done to avert it except perhaps an early warning sign. the event has happened, rather than wring our hands in regret, there is so much to learn from it. the positive side is unfolding before our eyes and unless we recognize it, we may miss the whole point of the catastrophe. the event brought to the fore the capacity of nations to cooperate with each other. this is the new world order and it has possibilities other than globalization of trade and politics.
christians, muslims, people of various faiths and beliefs, rich and poor, europeans, asians, africans and americans died in the tsunami. there is no exclusivity, either in the disaster or in the massaive aid effort that immediately followed. for many years, perhaps for the first time, it could be said that man, (and i mean this generically to include women) looked and confronted the fact of humanity – the vulnerability of life. perhaps we had grown insensitive to the value of life; most of us thought we can dispense with it as we saw fit. the tsunami dead, with figures climbing to the thousands, destroyed any such illusion. it may have happened in asia and africa today but the rest of the world is equally vulnerable to the forces of nature. nations great, rich, poor, big and small has responded in what may be called the largest relief operation in recent history.
more heartening was the report that in muslim villages in the east of buddhist dominated island, some survivors, lacking shovels, used giant iron forks used for communal cooking and their hands to scrape out graves for several dozen victims, half of them children. to me such acts are seeds of a world peace that had seemed only a few days ago an impossible dream. only a catastrophe as disastrous as the tsunami has finally awakened the world's nations on the necessity of peace and sharing before it is ready to face the trials and tribulations of the new world order. if there would be a competition on which among the wealthy and powerful countries on their generosity, we would achieve the near impossible feat of massive transference of wealth from one part of the world to the other that economists are fond of saying is "the only way for the world to go."
this should make us all face 2005 with hope and confidence…after all, this world, is still the best place for us, human beings, to live in..
it may sound unfeeling but i think there is another level at which the tsunami can be looked at and it is positive. no! i don’t mean the loss of lives, livelihood, or properties. that is all so sad and to be regretted. there may be scientific explanation for the recent tsunami. but given things as they are in the world today, there would have been little to be done to avert it except perhaps an early warning sign. the event has happened, rather than wring our hands in regret, there is so much to learn from it. the positive side is unfolding before our eyes and unless we recognize it, we may miss the whole point of the catastrophe. the event brought to the fore the capacity of nations to cooperate with each other. this is the new world order and it has possibilities other than globalization of trade and politics.
christians, muslims, people of various faiths and beliefs, rich and poor, europeans, asians, africans and americans died in the tsunami. there is no exclusivity, either in the disaster or in the massaive aid effort that immediately followed. for many years, perhaps for the first time, it could be said that man, (and i mean this generically to include women) looked and confronted the fact of humanity – the vulnerability of life. perhaps we had grown insensitive to the value of life; most of us thought we can dispense with it as we saw fit. the tsunami dead, with figures climbing to the thousands, destroyed any such illusion. it may have happened in asia and africa today but the rest of the world is equally vulnerable to the forces of nature. nations great, rich, poor, big and small has responded in what may be called the largest relief operation in recent history.
more heartening was the report that in muslim villages in the east of buddhist dominated island, some survivors, lacking shovels, used giant iron forks used for communal cooking and their hands to scrape out graves for several dozen victims, half of them children. to me such acts are seeds of a world peace that had seemed only a few days ago an impossible dream. only a catastrophe as disastrous as the tsunami has finally awakened the world's nations on the necessity of peace and sharing before it is ready to face the trials and tribulations of the new world order. if there would be a competition on which among the wealthy and powerful countries on their generosity, we would achieve the near impossible feat of massive transference of wealth from one part of the world to the other that economists are fond of saying is "the only way for the world to go."
this should make us all face 2005 with hope and confidence…after all, this world, is still the best place for us, human beings, to live in..
2 Comments:
WOW! You gave me the chills, alot. You're insanely smart and I admire you and your outlook on things. The world could definately use a few more thousand Chelle's.
Love ya!
Its nice to see the world come together, but I am a bit skeptical. I don't see this as being something that will have any lasting change in terms of cooperation between countries once the tsunami aid has finished.
Of the $2 billion in aid that has been pledged, all of it may not actually even be donated:
http://aranjit-half.blogspot.com/2005/01/airport-closing-hurts-tsunami-aid.html
also there are some people who still take a very negative view of events like the tsunami even in terms of charitable organizations:
http://aranjit-half.blogspot.com/2004/12/indian-ocean-earthquake-mega-tsunami.html#comments
and finally there are those that the tsunami is caused by religion:
http://www.rightwingnews.com/archives/week_2005_01_02.PHP#003292
Hopefully the good will have more of an effect than the few negative things that are starting to pop up.
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