Photo courtesy of Associated Press
Any disaster could come unexpectedly. At times, it’s with an intensity and scale no one ever imagined, especially if it hits right at the start of the year.
Nature once again has made it to the spotlight. This time, as 2010 opens, it shook the scene with a catastropic event in the form of a 7.0-magnitude quake that rocked Haiti on the 12th of January. Buildings toppled, crashed and resembled like crumpled paper strewn on the road. As the smoke of dust settled, an indescribable and hapless picture of a poor country rendered immobile by the tragedy surfaced. The damage was huge, and all that the quake left is nothing but pain – a whole collage of it.
But, it is this kind of happening that we are challenged by life to see it with the eyes of hope. We are jolted once more out of our everyday living to the reality that we are called to help, to give hope and to give life back to the people who need it most. Even in the simplicity of offering a prayer for them or making time to go into silence and think about these people can be big ways of reaching out, rather than plying our way unmindful of what’s really happening.
What we are seeing and hearing in Haiti in the news and in social media are bits and pieces of reminders of what we are really here for: to be the caretakers of humanity. We need not wait for another calamity of such kind to occur in order for us to act. Looking at the sad memories of 2009 should be more than enough to push us forward and be present whenever and wherever we are needed.
This, then, is a responsibility that rests upon the shoulder of each one, entrusted to no one except to us humans. Act we must then for our actions count more than ever.
The pictures are very sad. Makes me cry to
see this happening. Makes you think to about life
and what my happen next. Thanks again for a great blog post.
Natural problems to be tackled with competence and planning. A poor country without resources does not attract interest from large and powerful countries. Perhaps a tragedy like this motivate major changes in Haiti. Difficult, but I hope so.
Rightly said. It’s an eye opener for the large and powerful countries. Looking at the distribution of wealth, it’s deadly uneven and charting into unfair waters. That’s why, I mentioned in my post that it’s one of those reminders again.
We have one here in my country, also one big calamity that had jolted the world — Ondoy. (I mentioned this in my other post.) But just like what you said, there’s a concern on competence and planning.
In the same way that we care for each other, nations too should. Stop the differences, stop the biases, stop pre-conceived notions. Let’s just be one.
Sorry for the tragedy perpetrated in Haiti. We support you in this difficult time.