Cascadia Journal

We live in a society where we value the lives of some people over the lives of others. What gives us this right to play God?

I try to keep this blog local, but sometimes we need to get involved outside the confines of our own safe little homeland. Think back a few years when Hurricane Katrina swept its wrath over the US Gulf Coast. There were many people evacuated out of the area. Despite that, there were widespread problems and a handful of deaths. We responded with a full range of aid packages from charitable organizations and a multitude of private donations. Some US federal agencies even got involved in the recovery efforts. In total, it was a robust response.

A few days ago, a hurricane called Cyclone Nargis swept over an area of Asia we alternatively call Myanmar or Burma, depending upon your political sensibilities. Perhaps as many as 22,000 people, and by some estimates as many as 100,000 have perished in the storm and the flooding, with over a million displaced from their homes. Clearly, this is a more severe situation than Hurricane Katrina.

I look around, and I don’t see a great effort or concern from the general public about this disaster. Yes, I realize that this event happened in a place many miles away from us. I realize it is in another country. I realize that the people of Myanmar don’t look like the people of Cascadia, nor do they speak the same language. So just what is the reason that we are not showing more concern for their plight?

I would hate to think that it is a case of blatant racism. So I won’t go there for now. It is difficult to for me to believe though just how completely we are ignoring the situation there. Several countries, including the US and Canada, have donated a handful of money toward the cause. Yes, the local government is a bunch of totalitarians who won’t let relief workers into the country easily. Considering the gravity of the situation, we should be doing whatever is necessary to get relief to the area and work with the local government to assure them that the aid workers (whether government employees or not) are not trying to take over the country.

Beyond the money and aid issues, however, I still think we could do more to help the folks who have been victims of this natural disaster. It’s not that we won’t send some aid to these victims, despite the fact they could certainly use some help. It’s more that I have not yet even heard the more religious folks among us say that they are going to pray for their neighbors halfway around the world. It is almost as if we didn’t care about our fellow man and woman. I don’t see our religious institutions gathering around to discuss what they can do. Is it that these people are too far away for us to care? Is it that they are too unlike us for us to help? Just for once, I would like to see that we have a collective heart and can help people in need in our world, no matter their race or language or nationality.

Let’s practice what we preach.

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