A Country Forgotten

I spent the latter part of this evening at a fundraiser for the victims of the flood in Pakistan. I was there to support this cause and to offer encouragement and support to a lovely Pakistani gentleman who I and others in our church have come to know over the course of a few years. Every Saturday, he and others from other countries come and play ping pong in our church basement. They are a wonderful group of people, and it is so much fun watching them play ping pong and talking with them.

I may have misheard the figure, but even if in reality the figure was half of what was stated, we are still talking about a huge amount of people whose lives have been displaced, and for many destroyed completely. The figure quoted, and again, I may have misheard, was 20 million. Let's say the actual figure is 10 million or 5 million, five hundred thousand or one thousand, that's still too many lives affected. One life is too many. The question was raised there, and I must admit to thinking it myself, why we weren't hearing or seeing the same amount of support and media attention that followed the natural disasters that hit Haiti after the devastating earthquake, Indonesia after the Tsunami, and New Orleans after Katrina? Why has there been such little coverage of this event? Where are the celebrities and their special fundraisers? What is the cause of people viewing this as less important than the other natural disasters, and believe me, this is not a competition about which disaster is worse, they are all equally terrible and devastating, but it does make one wonder. Is it because we are "disastered out"? I sincerely hope not. It is hard to stay focused on a place of crisis, when it is not in your own back yard. It is natural to have short term focus, but not right. I am as guilty of this as the next person. I pause for a few days, watch continuously, donate money, cry at the face of tragedy, and then proceed onwards with my own everyday life, and soon that tragedy takes on a distant focus that becomes progressively dimmer as days go by. Right? No. Natural? Yes. When I was in India I would sometimes hear this phrase "What to do?", said with a resigned accent. Well, what to do? I don't have the answers to that. I wish I did. Maybe we can start by taking a moment each day to remember in prayer or thought, the victims of these tragedies. Maybe then, they will be closer in mind and heart. Some of us might be able to go on aid work to the affected areas, but that's probably not realistic for the majority of us. Perhaps we can find what is needed in terms of supplies and make it a goal to send some supplies in instead of funds. Maybe some of us can donate funds. Others, time. Maybe we can link up with one family we can help in some way. Perhaps we can look to our own back yards as well, to see the needs in our communities, cities and nations. I wish the answer was simple, but maybe it is. Maybe we should just remember to remember, and perhaps that in itself will promote some form of action.

I read a recent UN statement about the crisis on CNN online. I encourage you to read it and remember, and help in whatever way you can.

Thanks for reading and hearing.