Political and economic repression probably bother the Burmese less of late than the problem of staying alive in the mud along with the rotting corpses of man and beast. It's a natural disaster of bigger than average proportions and some estimate the death toll will be over a million when the toll of disease and malnutrition is paid. The earthquake in Sichuan seems almost inconsequential in comparison and so do the hurricanes, school shootings and lead paint scandals of recent times, yet the "Hillaryobama" chant continues to dominate all three rings of the 24 hour American news circus.
If the magnitude of the tragedy is lost on most of us, the significance of the event is clear to the Apocalypse fans. It's more evidence of the end times. It's more evidence of the the human sacrifice demanding Yahweh "who so loved the world" getting warmed up for the big one. To some, possessed of a more informed and wider view of history, it's just another small incident in a billion years of much worse. To others, it's a demonstration of the perils of overpopulation and poverty. To the more fashionable, it's the alarm bell of the Global Warming warning system. To the religious leaders to whom America listens while condemning Reverend Wright, it probably shows clearly the perils of not accepting their processed Jesus product and at least hints of various sexual improprieties of the oriental sort.
To me? Well I just knew you'd be interested. To me it all means nothing. It means we live very briefly in an unfathomably huge, ancient and hostile universe in which we and all we do are supremely insignificant except to each other. It means we waste our brief and often miserable lives by pretending it's otherwise.
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5 comments:
I'm with you!! Well said.
Well I believe we should all do what we can. We can touch many lives in varied ways.
In the end our impact in that cosmic second of time may be invisible. However you will have done what you can do, and you never know what you can do, until you try.
MrSleep
** I make wine to stimulate some of my senses, while softening others. It also puts a smile on my friends faces.
Hmmmm - agreement is disturbing. Where did I go wrong?
I'm not condoning hard heartedness, by the way. As I said, we are the only thing in the universe that cares about us and that suggests that we stop waiting for miracles; stop finding reasons not to help each other.
I didn't get the sense you were hard hearted. Your eloquence in examining the political manipulation of such tragedies is what made this post exceptional - and human.
Dare I say it was soft-hearted?
Amen... :)
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