# 40 – Tsunami

December 31, 2004

In the speck of dust that is my world, it is chance that confined me to at least lying down, if not in bed, leg up, so that I could spend so much time in front of the TV, watching primarily British, but also CNN, Fox, and Israeli news channels.

We are among the billions of lucky ones; we are not there. Far from the tsunami. But our imagination has been running wild; our elder daughter, Eliana is in southern India. We knew she was away from the danger areas, but those 2 days after the disaster, we had no contact with her. That was worrying.

What timing: Boxing Day, St. Stephen’s Day, Christmas’s chance to hangover. And now New Year, which usually has the word ‘Happy’ attached to it. Just doesn’t seem appropriate.

The horrific fire in a Buenos Aires disco can perhaps be put down to accident/stupidity (why light a flare in an enclosed place with up to 5,000 revellers?).

But hatred and extremism continues: a suicide bomb in Baghdad, bombs and gunfights in Riyadh, more rockets into Israel, and the predictable Israeli army’s response.

The expected winner of the coming Palestinian elections hugs the leader of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza – a lesson in how to make friends with the Israelis? (That same terrorist was interviewed last week by BBC TV, and when asked about Tony Blair’s efforts to help bring peace, he – in all seriousness – asked who Tony Blair was. Not only a terrorist, but also a dumb git).

How stupid are we?

When fate gives us a chance to forget our petty wars by overwhelming us with the enormity of this tsunami tragedy, by opening doors to international co-operation, we still allow hate to win.

2005 – An opportunity to learn from this? Let us hope so.

Stephen