Tsunami

I think by now we have all seen the images of the sea rushing inland in the coastal areas of Asia and Africa, killing tens of thousands. Current estimates are at 60,000, and these estimates have rapidly risen from 12,000 just 24 hours ago. And there are fears that the actual numbers would be higher given the vast region affected.

This disaster reminds us once again of the fragile foothold of life on earth. While the media images of what occurred on shore are awe inspiring, even more so is what no one saw as it occurred underneath the ocean: At 8 am local time on December 26, the ocean floor was lifted as much as 60 feet along a line stretching hundreds of miles off the coast of Sumatra. In other words, the power of seismic events within the earth literally lifted the ocean floor along with the entire ocean above it! This caused undersea waves that raced at close to the speed of sound, reaching far away Sri Lanka and the Indian coast within a couple of hours. As the waves approached the shoreline, water from the coastline was sucked in by the ocean, a typical phenomenon associated with the tsunami. As a result, people on the beaches reported seeing the ocean to have emptied of water upto about 600 feet from the beach! But then, after a few minutes of this strange sight, the water came crashing back - in the form of a powerful wave perhaps 30 feet high. Buildings were levelled, roads torn apart, cars and buses and even a train were tossed around like toys. And tens of thousands of lives were snuffed out in coastal areas stretching from Indonesia to Thailand, India, Sri Lanka all the way to the East African coastline.

And yet...in the scheme of things, even this awesome event is a mere blip on this tiny speck of matter we call earth in a vast universe. Protected by the biosphere, we are oblivious to the powerful forces that surround us. Solar winds that rush past earth at close to the speed of sound. A mighty "black hole" with the power of a million suns sucks in light itself at the center of our galaxy. And we know that even this vast galaxy itself is an insignificant speck of dust in the known universe. While intellectually aware of these things, we do not think much of them as we go about our daily lives.

Perhaps this is a good time to reflect on the pettiness that occupies us as a result of this lack of perspective. While news of the devastation was still breaking, Ben Laden issued another fatuous statement - and sounded even more fatuous than usual. On the same day, Pakistan and Indian delegations had yet another fatuous meeting on Kashmir, wasting public money on their feting one another. On the same day, all of us went about our concerns, oblivious to the fact thatall too soon "two paces of the vilest earth" will be room enough for each on of us, no matter how powerful or rich we may become by the time we die.

Let us then pray for those who are lost, and those who are suffering, and contribute what one can. But let us also pray that God provide some humility to those who make newspaper headlines, oblivious to the insignificance of the ends they try to reach through fair means or foul. Let us pray that God provide love for fellow human beings to those blinded by religious or nationalistic hubris, since ultimately all we have is one another. And above all, let us resolve never to allow ourselves to be blinded by this same hubris.