A friend asked me today if I was alright because I was awfully quiet. It got me thinking. As far as I was aware I was good – happy in fact. I was also busy today, but not stressful busy. What I think was up, was this whole dreadful Asian Tsunami business. When I went back into work yesterday for the first time since it happened we had a few emails about it – alot of our typesetters our out in India and China and our distribution is from Singapore. The emails were reassurances that thankfully none of the staff or their friends and family were involved, although there were some close shaves. The ones in Chenai were very close shaves…
Coupled with this, I am accutely aware of my own bank balance. I don’t have alot of disposable income – like many people I have to be careful – but I have a house, I can afford some good food, go on holidays, enjoy a comfortable existance. There are thousands of people in this country who are a worse off than me, and even them, their ‘poverty’ pales into insignificance to the millions out their in developing countries, and to those affected by Boxing Day’s natural disaster. It’s humbling. It’s sobering.
Then there was three minutes silence held today across Europe in memory of those who’ve died or lost their livelihoods or who are otherwise affected by the tsunami. I chose to observe the silence quietly at my desk, slowly pushing away my mouse and keyboard, and plugging in one earphone to Radio 4. I heard the announcement, and the strikes of Big Ben, fading after the twelfth beat to a silence of discordant white noise and hiss. For me this distressing absense of the sound that normally comes from the radio brought home ever so much more powerfully the truth of the situation.
( help, and buy them part of a box, or hell, if you can, a whole box )
I agree with you about the silence. I was with my Year 10 class (14-15 year olds), and there wasn’t a squeak out of them for the whole three minutes. Schools are such noisy places that silences always seem more meaningful somehow – a chance to think in a place where there’s so much pressure to be active.
Glad your colleagues in the Far East were safe, too.
The imposed 3 minutes of grief made me angry. Why should I be forced to pretend to care about this more than any of the other man-made disasters and acts of god in the world? Global economic injustice kills so many and causes so much suffering in the living – I am angry that this is ignored while an emotional response to one-off disasters salves our conscience.
Well done to Bob Geldof for pointing our attention back to Africa and all the other places our governments pretend to help but only make things worse.
No disrepect to you for your humble response to this act of god, but a glare of aggravation for those who try to force us all to care more about this than all of humanity’s evils.
but a glare of aggravation for those who try to force us all to care more about this than all of humanity’s evils
I was surprised by my reaction to this. I’m not normally one to follow the imposed moments of silence, but this time round I did choose consciously to take part. I’m not sure what it is but this particular tragedy has got to me. Maybe it’s the fact that happened at Christmas and the devastation was so widespread? I don’t know. I should imagine that I will never be able to explain it.
I know what you mean. Personally I didn’t feel angry or anything about the minutes of silence, I am very sorry about what has happened, but I got annoyed when people criticised certain cities’ New Year’s Eve celebrations and things like that. (eg Melbourne had a large fireworks display and newspaper editorials said that it was in terribly poor taste, should never have gone ahead, etc etc.) Like, they don’t realise that people die in terrible situations every day? Of course that doesn’t make this awful disaster any less tragic, but the idea that we should all suddenly stop our lives NOW and if we don’t, we’re heartless, makes me think that some people have absolutely no idea of the terrible situations that a large percentage of the world live and die in every single day.
Exactly. Even Tony Blair (if I remember correctly) pointed out yesterday that there is the “equivalent of this tsunami every week in Africa”. Where is the three minutes of silence every Monday morning till something is done?
Anyway, nuff said, and no disrespect intended to those who were and are genuinely moved.
No disrespect taken. I do agree with what you say, however I was also genuinely moved.