Interesting. I keep seeing things like this on Usenet, and I completely
disagree. It is not that they matter more, but I really don't think it's
inappropriate to address the enormity of this situation. It is unequaled in
modern times, even with the Bangledesh flooding back in the 70's, this is
much larger in scope. In my mind, it ranks right under a small asteroid
hitting the earth. So then, is it so wrong to boggle at the scope? To ask
for people to be generous? Not that I don't think the media likes a good
story that they can drag out, but this is different at least in my mind in
that I think it is important people DO see how enormous this is. This
summer, a small town of 300 people near me was destroyed by a tornado. The
scene there looked very much like this one except for one thing. There were
not bodies strewn everywhere and the towns next to it while damaged, did not
similarly lay in rubble and were very much there for immediate help.  A very
sad even yes. But, our city sent buses and the refugees were here within an
hour. They had homes to go to, hotels, shelters, many relatives, few lives
were lost (I believe two people died and, yes, that was tragic and I
actually cried for these people) and the town began rebuilding almost
immediately. In this instance of Asia, there would be no nearby city that
was not similarly obliterated, no where to go, no where to get much help,
particularly in Indonesia and Summatra, for days. 1 in four people involved
in the event are dead. Not only that but there is no equipment to help you
with all the carnage and rubble. Instead of trucks rolling in the next
morning with National Guard and hundreds of volunteers as here in the cases
of a tornado event or hurricane event, it takes days to get into many of
these places. They have lost family, homes and livlihoods on a HUGE scale in
a few minutes. And unlike a country like the US that had an existing strong
infrastructure, it's going to be a long time to get a semblence of normalacy
to return in these places that had existing difficulties in health and,
indeed, simply access. That is what I see portrayed in the media. Yes, death
is a part of life and happens all the time, but we at least have family, or
jobs to turn to for help, for an outlet for grief. If your whole reason for
living is suddenly swept away and not just for one person but for tens of
thousands in the matter of minutes, yes, it bears talking about and is a
remarkable event. When entire families, in the thousands, are wiped off the
earth and not just one family member, it bears international attention. It
is an historic event. It is tragedy magnified thousands of times. It does
not negate personal tragedy that people suffer everyday, but it is certainly
something that provokes thought, concern and hopefully compassion from those
more fortunate. I can guarantee you that people here who lost their town
here, and people in Florida who went through the hurricanes probably think
that the coverage is warranted and that they were the lucky ones in the
scope of their tragedy. I ask all of you, in your lifetime, have tens of
thousands of people perished in one instant? People who came from all
corners of the earth? I can think of only one that comes close and it was
9/11, which still did not come close in numbers. And even in that instant,
there was help to go to immediately. I think this Tsuanmi event is worthy of
the coverage it has gotten and of the support it is receiving.

In keeping with the original thought of Happy 2005, it easy for me to say, I
think I will certainly have a happy 2005 because I have a home and a job and
family and cats. And I have a new ruler by which to measure my "bad days".