Published on January 01, 2005

The human spirit takes over

Never before has it been so tempting to think that life is plain silly. And who should blame us if, rattled, shocked and pained beyond words by the almighty magnitude of last Sunday’s tsunami that swept away more than 100,000 innocent lives, we are starting to lose our faith? Whose grand design is it to turn “paradises” – where friendship blossomed, newlyweds honeymooned and countless good memories formed – into hells?

But there are people who do not have time to reflect on what must be one of mankind’s biggest crises – the rescuers and relief workers exhausting themselves day and night in devastation zones, from Indonesia to Kenya and Tanzania; those organising relief funds; the doctors; the counsellors and the volunteers. The plausible explanation to the apparently inexplicable tragedy may lie somewhere in their acts.

Normally, New Year means presenting gifts to the ones you love, but this year many people have rediscovered that long-lost concept of genuine “giving”. Strangers are helping strangers. Relief alliances, big and small, local and foreign, are rebuilding. Donated blood keeps coming. Reporters, newscasters and embassy officials are working overtime. Planned mega parties have been turned into fund-raising events. Overseas, political enemies or warring nations are lending helping hands to one another.

One of the greatest displays of the wrath of nature in modern history is getting a frenzied response. It remains to be seen whether the hectic semblance of mankind’s unification will be adequate for this immense

challenge, thrown at us by God knows who and growing

menacingly by the hour. Indonesia, having borne the brunt of the killer waves, is on the verge of another humanitarian disaster of epic proportions. Disease epidemics and starvation are also threatening other ravaged areas. With probably millions of people losing virtually everything, crime will rise.

The catastrophe is forcing us to redirect our wealth, expertise and technology to real use. We have sent spacecraft to Mars, but can we reach the dying refugees in Aceh in time? We can now clone virtually every living thing we want, but can our medical power and resources prevent looming epidemics of diseases?

Money and technology need to go hand in hand with sacrifice and selflessness if human beings are to overcome this colossal test and start rebuilding. A lot of people, here and abroad, are showing they have what it takes not to go down without a fight. Faceless and nameless heroes have been sifting through wreckage, giving out supplies, providing medical care, donating money and blood, repairing roads or creating emergency relief websites.

The beaches may have gone and the land may have been lost. But if what happened on Sunday and its aftermath is to make any sense at all, it has to be that extra space of real courage and sacrifice many people have found in themselves. The only way to honour the lives that are lost is to show them we are coming as one and doing the best we can to save what is left and begin reconstructing in a way that future tsunamis will find a more worthy opponent.

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