OUT OF SIGHT COLUMN: It's more than a stat
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By Manual Sanchez-Garcia
Imagine everyone you know losing all of their possessions, most of them becoming homeless, and unfortunately many of them dying. I am sure it is a horrible picture to visualize, but just try it. The reason for doing this is to show you how reality, sometimes, goes beyond imagination.
The picture you had in your mind a moment ago, sorry to say, has become reality in India.
January 26, 2001, was a celebration day in this country. It was India’s Republic Day. This holiday celebrates independence and freedom from British rule. Everything seemed fine until the earth shook savagely. As a result of that fateful tremble, more than 25,000 people died and more than a million were affected.
The number of seriously injured is double the population of La Salle County. Maybe, because we have not experienced such a disaster during our lives, we cannot sense the intensity of the tragedy. Sure, we can read about it or we can see horrible photographs and feel sympathy for these people but, as time passes, our compassion becomes just a word. Our mind is selfish and looks just for pleasing thoughts.
Soon you will forget about this disaster. In fact, on February 13 another earthquake took place in El Salvador. Did you hear about it? It was the second big one in a month. About 300 people died. So what! Other heartbreaking news to simply forget. What can we do? C’est la vie.
Yes, I agree with you. This is life. Nevertheless, this is our world and we should know what is happening around us. Concerning the earthquake that occurred in India: What do you know about this country? It is a big country with a lot of people.
Yes, India is a huge country, has more than one billion people -mostly poor, and the quality of building construction is far from that developed countries such as the United States. These are the facts. The elevated number of victims is the result.
Maybe you wonder about how different Indians are from us. The truth is they are not very different. Actually, India is the world’s largest democracy, has a lot of natural resources, and its movie industry is the largest in the world.
We should be informed, think, talk, try to understand, and keep the information in our minds. We don’t need to be afraid to feel. Let’s be curious.