Disasters and Lives
The recent earthquake in Sichuan and the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, makes me rethink about life and it's vulnerability. Sometimes, we just take things for granted and think that everything will still be the same when we wake up tomorrow. But how often can that happen? The quake and cyclone victims did not expect that within minutes, their world would came crashing down around them, and that they will lose their lives, family members and homes in the split second.
Sometimes, we do not learn to treasure what we have until we have lost it. How often do we tell our family that we really love them? Or how often do we tell our friends that we appreciate that friendship we have with them? I used to think that things will always remain the same. In fact, I have dwelled into a state of melacholy and numbness towards the things that are happening around me everyday. That is, until my brother passed away two years ago, in an accident. That was when I jolted awake and realised that things have changed --- forever.
It doesn't seem obvious. But things have and will continue to change. How will the people who lost their families in the disasters live on in the future? Will they ever look at things the same way again? I seriously doubt that. Everytime I see these victims wailing in the news and read the stories that are published in the papers, it seems to me that, no matter how strong they may be, a part of them is gone, buried together with their deceased love ones.
Times have changed to an era where we are no longer able to protect ourselves from what comes next. From natural disasters to viral diseases, how immuned are we actually against such killers? We learn from mistakes. But how many mistakes can we afford, while these killers are taking lives away? Is the world still as beautiful as it seems? Maybe it is --- on the surface.