Human suffering! We watch here in China with bated breath to hear the last death toll figure.
50,000 now and sure to climb.
As the taxi took me to the hotel the flags are flying at half mast. I've never seen that in another country. A country mourns.
As I checked in at the hotel they informed me "we" have just begun 3 days of government dictated mourning. For 3 minutes - the time of the earthquake - we will observe silence. No mention of prayer.
For the next 3 days there will be no entertainment in the hotel. No music. No movies or frivolous television shows. Only news (and hotel promotion).
There will be plenty of time for dissecting the tragedy here. Why did so many schools collapse and government buildings remain standing? Why so long to allow foreign aid? Why...?
But for the moment there are millions of human beings in need of fresh water, emergency medical care, and some parents --- or children --they will never see again. For the moment it is good to congratulate the Chinese government of the level of transparency they are allowing. For the moment we should pray for the hundreds of thousands of Chinese military, emergency crews and common citizens who are going without sleep trying to minimize the damage of this act of nature.
For now surely we can take at least 3 days and mourn together. But as we mourn let's not forget the emptiness of saying 'be warm and be fed while doing nothing."
Because we cannot help everyone does not mean we should help no one. What can you do?
50,000 now and sure to climb.
As the taxi took me to the hotel the flags are flying at half mast. I've never seen that in another country. A country mourns.
As I checked in at the hotel they informed me "we" have just begun 3 days of government dictated mourning. For 3 minutes - the time of the earthquake - we will observe silence. No mention of prayer.
For the next 3 days there will be no entertainment in the hotel. No music. No movies or frivolous television shows. Only news (and hotel promotion).
There will be plenty of time for dissecting the tragedy here. Why did so many schools collapse and government buildings remain standing? Why so long to allow foreign aid? Why...?
But for the moment there are millions of human beings in need of fresh water, emergency medical care, and some parents --- or children --they will never see again. For the moment it is good to congratulate the Chinese government of the level of transparency they are allowing. For the moment we should pray for the hundreds of thousands of Chinese military, emergency crews and common citizens who are going without sleep trying to minimize the damage of this act of nature.
For now surely we can take at least 3 days and mourn together. But as we mourn let's not forget the emptiness of saying 'be warm and be fed while doing nothing."
Because we cannot help everyone does not mean we should help no one. What can you do?
