Humbled

Feel so sad at the moment...

Everyday I tried my best to find time and watch the news. I know for some people who were still missing due to tsunami, hope will always be there. I feel their pain but compare to what they were facing, it's just a diminutive of what they have experience. Every night since that tsunami started, I shed tears. The number of dead bodies increasing, the number of people wailing putting up the littlest of hope that somehow amidst of the pile of the dead bodies they would see their family. Seeing the children lifeless, who will never had the chance to see what future lies ahead of them, breaks my heart. The whole world is watching. All aches for them. All longs to help. But up to what extent? Soon, the whole world will go back to its everyday life. But the people will always face the nightmare of what they've been through. They will live their second chance of life wondering how they'll get over the past. I, myself will go back to my own. Sure, I will never forget what the December 26, 2004 tragedy have brought us. But will I still think of the survivors? Of the Children? I don't know what's my point here. Im sentimental and that's my excuse! Maybe, programming is not really my thing. Anyway, a friend of mine shared to me this wonderful piece. A bit long but worth it. Read on...

HUMBLED BY NATURE'S POWER by William Rees-Mogg of The Times
WE SHALL never know how many people have been killed by the great tsunami in the Indian Ocean. No doubt the number of identified casualties will continue to rise, but there will be many more who are missing and there will be grieving families who gradually have to give up hope

This is a human tragedy on a huge scale, caused by the action of Nature rather than Man. It is said to be the worst earthquake in 40 years. Yet in its scale, and in the mixture of damage from the earthquake itself, and that done by the sea, it is the most awe-inspiring earthquake that has happened in a lifetime. No previous earthquake I can remember, has destroyed property and killed people across a whole ocean

The earthquake itself is said to be 1,000km in length; the seabed was opened up as though by a zip fastener; this event threw up a gigantic wave three storeys high, which travelled for thousands of kilometres

One can understand what happened as a result of the stress between two continental plates, but one can hardly imagine it. The force generated must have been as great as that of a thousand nuclear bombs; no doubt that can be estimated and will be.

It is not only the level of casualties that impresses human consciousness. We are accustomed to millions being killed in major wars - even the Iran-Iraq war, of which the world took surprisingly little notice at the time, caused well over a million deaths.

Aids kills by the millions each year in Africa alone and has killed a total of tens of millions already.

When all the figures are added up, it looks as though the tsunami may have killed a few tens of thousands. The statistics in themselves are not what shock us. It is the scale and force of the event, and its geographic character. If such an earthquake happened in Europe, we would be able to trace the fault from London to Rome, or to Berlin.

If a tsunami 10m high stormed its way up the Thames, half of London would be under water.

If such an earthquake ripped through the San Andreas fault in California, it would virtually tear the state in two, and cause trillions of dollars worth of damage.

We view with awe a release of power on this scale. We know that this power is greater than that of our species - nature holds us in its hands.

We may be able to mitigate some of the consequences; in some cases we may be able to give advance warning of the threat; but we are not in control; the tsunami has demonstrated this ancient truth.

There are lessons.

First, no doubt, is that we should extend through the Indian Ocean, and other areas of risk, the scientific warning system that exists in the Pacific.

If an alert coastguard in Sumatra had observed the earthquake, he would not have known who to warn in India or Sri Lanka, although they could have had a couple of hours' warning.
In the wealthier Pacific area there is an organised warning system, which has reduced the casualties from tsunamis.

The world will no doubt give aid to the areas that have been hardest hit.

In Sri Lanka alone it is reported that a million coastal people have suffered serious material damage.

The world needs to be generous. By and large, the tragedy has fallen on poor countries and tourists, not directly on the inhabitants of the wealthiest cities of the world.

This could have happened to Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles or even London. That is one reason for the great cities to dig deep into their pockets. They have been spared.

The disaster should also impel all the nations of the world to give further thought to the needs of the environment.

As it happens, global warming seems to have had little or no connection with this event. But the tsunami did mimic some of the effects that global warming is now expected to have.

The great wave, in an hour, told the world where sea levels might be in a century, or perhaps in a couple of centuries.

If the sea rises, it will flood the coastal areas of low-lying countries. Mankind has built a fragile home for itself, with the growth of the world's population, the exploitation of natural resources, the spread of diseases from overcrowding and modern transport, the dependence on modern technologies - some of which are very vulnerable to upheaval - and the tall buildings which are open to terrorism.

That fragility is the real danger of the modern world. Even after 911, the great cities of the world have continued to build symbolic skyscrapers that are almost as vulnerable as the twin towers in New York.

The biblical story of the Tower of Babel had been the blueprint for modern cities.

The tsunami mocks this pride.

Perhaps our modern skyscrapers would withstand, as some tall hotels have withstood, the rush of the water. But our global system has an arrogance that challenges the forces of nature.

It is as though mankind had decided to tweak nature by the nose to show who is the boss. The tsunami has demonstrated that nature, and not mankind, is still the real master.

It is ironic that the poor of the earth have taken the brunt of the suffering.

If a million people have had their homes damaged or destroyed in Sri Lanka, there will be another million on the coast of India and more again in Thailand and Indonesia, perhaps in the Maldives as well.

They will get some aid, but nothing like enough to make good their probable losses. The proud have had a lesson, but at the expense of the humble people of the earth.

Nature can be a brutal moralist.

Asia grieves - Phuket Tsunami

"imagine spending your christmas holiday under the sun beside the beach, relaxing and resting and taking your time off from working your ass off the entire year. you got, let's say 2 weeks, to relax and enjoy the hot sun. you look around, some were enjoying too like you with their families. those little kids doing their best to make a sand castle. the old couple walking hand in hand, pass you by while you just lie there and relax. with a smile on your face, u promise yourself you'll do it next year. and then suddenly, you heard people screaming. then u saw big wave as high as you can imagine. you saw woman crying. it happens so fast that you never even had the chance to react..."

my heart sank as i watched the news yesterday afternoon. thousands of people were killed. thousands were missing. thousands were injured. most of them were tourists. and here i am living my normal life. in front of my computer. unable to think and work. devastation fills my entire soul. the quake that shook some countries in asia. the killer wave that obliterates the beautiful beaches. the natural disaster that claimed thousands of lives and inflict injuries to a lot of people.

and then i thought what if i was there? i've been to phuket a year ago and the more i think of the what if's the more my heart bleeds with compassion and sympathy to those people who think of nothing but to enjoy, unwary that this vacation is their last.

the entire world was shocked. the end of the year is 5 days away and to those people welcoming the new year with such anguish and pain is so sad to think about. i wish there is something that i could do. i wishi could alleviate their pain from the loss that they've faced.

imagine this happens to the entire world. imagine that it's not just the end of the year that's coming. imagine it is indeed the end of the world. i can't think of it. i am not yet ready. emotionally and spiritually ... but i know that i still have the time and chance to be ready. i'll try and do my best. i will. Some things happen the way we least expect them to happen. May we always be ready - spiritually. May GOD bless us all especially those who passed away...

On a stormy day like this...

Everyday I go to Inquirer's website to copy the latest syobis or political news, and the paper's editorial but I hardly ever read anything of it. Not if something catches my eye, then that's the only time I'll read. Well, I love to read books. I love to read anything but news. Not because I don't care what's happening around me, it's just that I feel worst reading them. All the killings, anything that show's people revenge, terrorism, corruption, all these breaks me. Anyway, I do this everyday because we got this internal online pahayagan just for the pinoys and oh yeah, Im the so-called editor-in-chief. Im thrilled of course. This is another story.

So with the little free time that I have from working and trying to survive with my everyday life overseas, I rarely read and watch the news. But Mr. A does. He's so into it. Everyday in the morning, with his usual breakfast, he watches Channelnews asia or CNN. And he's my only "connection" from the outside world. =) But last night, when he told me about the typhoon that hit the northern philippines, I tried to watch and read the news.

I was devastated. Flabbergasted. Sympathetic. And then I cried. (Oh, don't worry, I cried a lot. I always do on sad movies. Yeah, on cartoons too, one time!) My country is experiencing a great loss. A lot of homes were destroyed, more than 900 people were killed, some were still missing, all due to the flashfloods and landslides triggered by the storm Yoyong or Nanmadol. (Funny how we still managed to name a ravaging storm like this) I can't imagine how the people who managed to survived in the storm could endure this kind of tragedy in their life. And you know what's worst than this? Feeling so much sympathy and yet not being able to do anything to lessen the pain they were into. The best thing you could do is cry for them because you can't do anything much. I guess I'm just being soft. But who won't be? =(

Let's just hope and pray that these people will be ok. That, albeit it's a great loss for them, they would still remain strong. God bless them all. May peace be with the souls of the departed. My deepest sympathy.

Spectre

there's a ghost inside me
that captivates my sanity
caused me unbearable pain
every night i cried in vain

the thought of you haunts me
that someday his eyes will see
your beauty, shining like a gem
with power stronger than stem

knowing you're around scares me
lurking through his beauty
like a dementor flying so free
taking away people's ecstacy

alongside's love is pain
pain caused by too much love . . .