Wave 2
Yesterday, my sister told me that her friend's cousin's body had been found in Phuket. Last night I dreamt that my husband had been swept away.
Sister's friend's cousin- yes, that's a tenuous connection, but it's still too close to home. Malaysia's not that big- I'm sure the '6 degrees' theory works here. Everyone is connected, in some way, to at least one person who lost someone, something in the tsunami. If not, we all know Penang- we've been there, we know about the food, we know Balik Pulau has some of the best durians.
My point is, we should be grieving, or at least, reflecting. To quote Tulisje, "The world did not end and God is still up there watching how we deal with this. Watching what we do with the second chance He's given us." Three days before the New Year and whilst body counts are still rising, it would seem as if we're determined to show God that business for us is as usual, with a vengeance.
Yes, Malaysians have given generously. But it would seem as if we're suffering from Philantropist's Amnesia- we contribute a donation, smiling for the cameras, and then forget about the victims, our conscience salved. I suppose that's how we justify organising a multi-million ringgit New Year's Eve Countown Extravaganza in the face of such a tragedy. No matter that the donation made is probably only a tenth of the Extravaganza's budget. No matter that the money spent on pyros alone, or maybe Siti Norhaliza's fee could help salvage the lives and futures of whole villages.
I suppose, as everyone's favourite Mokcik put it, there aren't enough persnickety mokciks who think New Year's Eve Countdowns would be crass and insensitive after such a tragedy.
Maybe the body count hasn't been high enough. Maybe the victims of the tsunami, mostly ordinary Mats and their families, or poor fishermen, weren't important enough to warrant cancelling the pyro displays. Maybe a Hadhari'd Islam says it's ok to celebrate when others are in such grief- forget prayer vigils, forget quietly reflecting on why we've been spared, forget honouring the memories of those who have gone- let's party like it's 2004.
So, what I want to know is this- are there any other persnickety mokciks out there? If there are, maybe we should make our naggings heard.
nads went at 15:43