Comments on: Humbled and Sobering https://shepline.com/2005/01/05/humbled-and-sobering/ author | illustrator | digital designer Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:15:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 By: Thomas https://shepline.com/2005/01/05/humbled-and-sobering/#comment-1635 Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:15:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=875#comment-1635 In reply to soulsong.

No disrespect taken. I do agree with what you say, however I was also genuinely moved.

]]> By: soulsong https://shepline.com/2005/01/05/humbled-and-sobering/#comment-1634 Thu, 06 Jan 2005 19:07:15 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=875#comment-1634 In reply to kellymarie.

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.

]]> By: kellymarie https://shepline.com/2005/01/05/humbled-and-sobering/#comment-1631 Thu, 06 Jan 2005 13:59:21 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=875#comment-1631 In reply to soulsong.

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.

]]> By: Thomas https://shepline.com/2005/01/05/humbled-and-sobering/#comment-1628 Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:42:03 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=875#comment-1628 In reply to soulsong.

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.

]]> By: soulsong https://shepline.com/2005/01/05/humbled-and-sobering/#comment-1627 Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:33:25 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=875#comment-1627 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.

]]> By: hartleyhare https://shepline.com/2005/01/05/humbled-and-sobering/#comment-1626 Wed, 05 Jan 2005 20:26:23 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=875#comment-1626 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.

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