One year ago…the Indian Ocean was disturbed from its usual ebbs and flows by an earthquake and, with scant little warning, a tsunami rose and swept across far-flung shores. Not with malice. Not with forethought. Nature doesn’t have animosity or caprice, it simply is and it simply does.
A tsunami rose and swept across far-flung shores…and more than 200,000 souls fell before its awful, undeniable, humbling power, dwelling from that moment on in the arms of the welcoming universe and in the warm-lit, summer-soft realms of the memories of those who fiercely loved the departed but were blessed and cursed to be left behind here in the mortal world.
One year ago…a small eternity ago…a tsunami seized our collective heart…our collective compassion…our collective fear of mortality taken in one sudden, terrible swoop…and shuddered as the toll of the dead rose with each subsequent news report. We sent prayers…we sent money…we sent our guilty relief that it wasn’t us…we sent soldiers of compassion and planeloads of donated goods.
And then…as we do because life and human nature moves us…we began to move on. Everyday life consumed us again. Wars large and small…nature moving in devastating ways (earthquakes, hurricanes, floods) in other parts of the world…matters of real human import and matters of trivial import…drew our attention; the world rolled on and we, running as fast as we can to keep up, rolled with it.
We didn’t forget…we just stopped remembering to remember because life took us…because it made us sad…because we understood that suffering is a part of life and there’s only so much we can do about it…because it was too painful…too overwhelming…too far away…to think about for too long.
One year ago…a heartbeat ago…a tsunami rose and swept across far-flung shores…and, for a moment at least, we pause to remember…
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