the wave ...

It's all over the news - that event that proved the wrath of nature is so much greater than man could ever imagine - the terrible earthquake/ tsunami waves that have dominated our lives since the morning of Boxing Day 2004. I must admit that it has cast a shadow over my heart and made me question many things. I am blown away by the size of this catastrophe and how powerless I am just sitting here in my house. I feel the inequity between my life and those lives lost and injured and wish I could do more. We have decided to give money/ materials/ time next year when we are in Madras because by then it will not be a need for immediate relief (of which there is plenty thankfully to the generosity of the world) but a need for sustainable rebuilding of whole communitites. I do know how small our effort is and how terribly insignificant it looks even in my own eyes but it is all I can promise to afford/ give of myself for the moment. I also know that its my drop in the ocean and that all the drops will add up to something bigger. Possibly this is the wrong example – oceans and all – but it’s the only one I can think of.

In spite of this awfulness, we did have a New Year eve dinner – friends joining us for a quiet evening of food, watching fireworks from our balcony, and gentle laughter. However, through it all I know that we were all saying a prayer for those affected in this terrible time, to find the strength to carry on and to find peace and rebuild their lives as fully as possible. This morning when I went to work I found out that we lost a colleague and her daughter to the waves in Thailand where they were enjoying their Christmas break. They are both in my thoughts and prayers as are their families.

So remember, no matter how small your drop, its a drop adding to the ocean.