A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Mary MacElveen
In one day, Mother Nature herself became the ultimate destructive force taking out the lives of 12,500 innocent people in Sri Lanka, nearly 5,000 in Indonesia, and 4,000 in India as reported by the International Red Cross. They also expressed concern where diseases like malaria and cholera could add to the toll. These numbers are far greater than the attacks that befell us on September 11th, 2001. A far greater destructive force took out these innocent souls than the bombs that came upon our shores and attacked us. A magnitude 9.0 has a more destructive force than four airplanes used as a delivery system to take out innocent people. Words fail many of us in expressing our feelings when it comes to the massive loss of life as experienced by these people.
Did the world stop on this very day as it did on September 11th to pay homage to these innocent souls? Where is the collective sympathy of the leaders of the free world? Is Pres. Bush asking us to sacrifice anything or to go shopping as he did shortly after September 11th?
As we all know, hundreds of billions of dollars have gone into the destruction of mankind over in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, but only a fraction goes towards helping these people who have suffered such a tragedy that you and I cannot even comprehend.
As it stands right now, the United States is set to send over $15 million dollars in aid to the Asian countries, and the 25-nation European Union promised to quickly deliver $4 million. That is far too little, especially considering that in one day 22,500 are now dead. Where is the outrage in giving so little to help these people?
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/12/con04564.html