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December 26, 2004 a Tsunami hit.
The U.S. Geological Survey initially recorded the toll as 283,100 killed, 14,100 missing, and 1,126,900 people displaced.
That same week my mom was in the hospital dying. She went back into the hospital after being out for about a week (she went back on 12/24/2004 and died 12/31/2004).
As I watched the news and all the reports of death, I held out hope that many others would not be suffering as I was in my life. But I knew they were.
So many lost more than I did, and no one was covering my own pain and loss - just another day here where someone was suffering loss. My world was crashing around me, and so were the lives of so many others. In some odd way I didn't feel so alone. I got it.
Now we have a major disaster in Haiti. Those who have died have moved on - those living are the ones with the real problems now. From needing health care to mental health care (not to mention needing water/aid/etc).
I remember how many heard the call on 9/11, when the Tsunami hit, and now they answer the call for aid in Haiti. So many are doing their best to help out those in need.
THAT gives me hope - that we all do care, that we are willing to reach out and lend a helping hand to our fellow human.
When we see suffering we want to stop it. I hope we keep that lesson in our hearts, because every day such things play out on a smaller scale all across the globe.
Suddenly it is not about profit and what we can gain from it, it is about others going through a living hell and we want to help out our fellow humans.
There is hope in it all - hope that we will keep such lessons in our hearts and work together to save people not just when a big disaster happens but to do so each and every day.
The pain and suffering now on the news is not new, it exists out there each and every day. Not just here, but around the world.
We come together because we relate - because deep down we don't want others to suffer.
In the end that gives me some hope, that we will work together for each other. That when the news gets tired of covering all the issues (parents losing kids, spouses losing loved ones, etc) we will still be just us - people who want to see an end to all this suffering.
Somewhere, in the rubble of this mess, is the real heart of people across the world.
A hope that we will be there for one another.
I won't forget you and your pain, please don't forget mine. Let's work together to make this place something better for all of us. We don't want others to suffer such things as they are now, nor do we want anyone else to suffer such things from lack of money/health care/etc.
Let us remember those who made it through it all, let us remember how we feel about them now, and let us carry that on to the future and how we conduct ourselves.
I don't care your faith, political values, etc - you are hurting, suffering, worrying, and are scared. And as a fellow human here on this planet I relate and wish I could make it all better.
And based on the reactions I have seen of late, I have hope - because so many others of this species we call human feel the same.
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