How does one deal with this?

[droolymutt]

When 156,000 die in Indonesia and East Asia...?





Leaving hundreds of thousands of others homeless....





And so many Children without Mothers or Fathers...?







How?





Do we continue to laugh, and make jokes?





What do you think?

[RonOnGuitar]

This sounds more like a Blah-Blah board philosophical Q & A, Drooly!



But since it's here (and since I am too, heh) -



I think time can offer some wisdom in the case of tragedy.



Time. The future, because it takes time to heal & sort things out. And the past - to provide some perspective.



Ain't got the temporal distance yet for the future, so I'll defer to the past (and present).



The 1970 Bangladesh Cyclone took 500,000 lives. China’s Tangshan earthquake in 1976 left 600,000 dead.



On US highways 40-50,000 lives are lost each year.



Every day on this planet at least 30,000 people (mostly children) die of starvation.



But usually these deaths are just statistics to most of us.



In this latest tragedy, we know of - either directly or second-hand - some of those who perished.



Adding familiar names and faces to the tragic stats makes it more difficult, requires more time for the perspective and wisdom to set in. That's just being human.



We hear of Chris' friends being lost and Mike tells of a sweet, innocent girl who had her mother & father taken from her and we grieve. Again, we'd be less than human if we didn't.



The short term answer to your question re:"how to deal?"



I don't know.



The long term answer? Time will work it out as far as granting some wisdom goes.



(At least that's just my thinkin'.)



Good questions to ponder, Droolyman!

[bbchris]

Yes we continue to laugh, make jokes and express gratitude for being alive and escaping the tsunami directly. Perhaps our jokes will now be more compassionate and caring. Perhaps people will finally dare to do what they really want to do as realisation that life and everything else can disappear in a matter of minutes. Perhaps we can reach out to those around us who weren't caught in the tsunami but who may be suffering or in pain and be kind to them.



As regards to the actual tsunami, we help where we can, be it donating money/clothes/supplies and volunteering if possible or if we have a viable skill to donate. The survivors need to know there is a world that they can grow up in, where people are compassionate and care about them. Where there IS laughter after pain/suffering/disease etc.



I was reading about the surviving kids in India who are now getting art therapy. The kids haven't been able to talk but they draw pictures of waves, waters, dead people, 'help', and finally are crying and able to express their grief. Time is definitely needed to help them. Bless the teachers/social workers and everyone helping to guide the future generation.

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup | Underground HK |

[Rev9Volts]

By the numbers, the two worst human-rights crises in 2004 were genocide in Darfur and the ongoing nightmare of North Korea. In the war in Darfur, tens of thousands were slaughtered and 1.6 million were displaced. In North Korea, hundreds of thousands languish in gulags. No one really knows how many because the government is so repressive. Millions are reported to have died in famines in the 1990s, but again, no one really knows for sure.

Given those facts, human-rights watchdogs should highlight those cases above others. But Kenneth Roth, executive director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, instead says, "Among the myriad human rights challenges of 2004, two pose fundamental threats to human rights: the ethnic cleansing in Darfur and the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib." Why elevate Abu Ghraib above North Korea? Unlike Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch determines its focus not just by the numbers of victims, but also on "access to the country and the availability of information about it," and by "the susceptibility of abusive forces to influence." It also cites the "importance of addressing thematic concerns" as a fourth criterion.















In other words, it takes the low-hanging fruit, the dominant media issue or whatever is sexy at the time. With all the media attention on Abu Ghraib, what could be sexier than abuses by U.S. forces? Buried on page 309 of the 527-page report is a summary of North Korea's human rights situation. North Korea has "abysmal human rights conditions" and "routinely and egregiously violates nearly all international human rights standards," the report concludes. The headlines don't proclaim it every day, however, so Mr. Roth opts to highlight the issue they do.

We don't mean to pick on Mr. Roth; Human Rights Watch does much to document abuses worldwide. But it's no wonder the group has developed a reputation as the irresponsible lefty among major human-rights groups, one that condemns Western governments in a seeming quest for media notoriety.

A capacity for vigorous self-criticism is a virtue of open societies like that in the United States. It shows the political culture is healthy and capable of identifying law-breakers and bringing them to justice. That's how the Abu Ghraib abuses first came to light, and it's why Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. was sentenced to 10 years in prison over the weekend for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Human-rights advocates are a part of that self-critical process. But they shouldn't let themselves be wagged by the media as they take part. If they pass over cases like North Korea just because they're difficult, then they're being wagged.

[bbchris]

Rev, I understand you are passionate about what you posted, however there were questions in the initial post that I would love to hear your responses on. When you have time, please do post your response.

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup | Underground HK |

[Rev9Volts]

sorry i was in a hurry... i do feel bad for all those that died and are suffering. however... if it does not affect you then you tend to say a prayer for them, give a few dollars and go on. afterall.... i may be wrong but has anyone on this board sold all their possions and given all their money to help them? i dlon't think so... my point was you can not fall apart everytime there is some kind of disaster.

[bbchris]

Excellent post Rev. It would be silly though for someone to sell all possessions to donate money - most of us live in 1st world countries and make far more money than these suffering places so a great way is to contribute regularly (monthly) to such charities. Continued support is way more important. Unless of course you are a doctor/nurse/counsellor/teacher etc. who are willing to give up where you are now to go and help hands on. That's great. No one I know from these boards have done it (most of us are not these occupations) but I know others who have done it from Hong Kong. My friend's wife being Thai, flew out to Phuket to help translate and basically listen to people and hug them. I think if I could have spoken Thai/Indonesian fluently I would have done the same thing.

|Blah Blah|Thinking Out Loud|Jane Eliz||Talk Soup | Underground HK |

[Rev9Volts]

chris you are right ... we would be foolish to give all our money to a charity... when the charity in usa make keep 60% and get rich off us.. my point is mike burn did not sell his custom shop les paul and i did not sell my custom shop strstocaster. if our friends are fine and healthy then what drooly mutt is insinuating is we are a bunch of hypocrits...



oh ans for the record i am very impressed with you debbie, galmin and mike's command of english....