This time a year ago, I was glued to the television, shocked and emotional. The earthquake hit Christchurch at 12.51 pm, and it was so shallow it devastated the city. A year later, the residents of Christchurch have endured over 10,000 aftershocks, some of them big enough to do even more damage. Today, the entire country is remembering. I am remembering.
And this morning, at the gym, watching the BBC I reflected. There was coverage of the earthquake a year on, and the services being held today to remember it. There was coverage of the deaths of at least 40 children suffering a particularly harsh winter in Afghanistan. Sadly, it is not simply the cruelty of nature that caused these deaths in Afghanistan, but the results of decades of war and poverty too. And there was coverage on further shelling and deaths in Syria. And I thought also of my niece who is in Cambodia right now – another place that always makes me pause and think about our inhumanity to each other. And, as I did the same time last year and then throughout the year, when coverage of the problems in Egypt and Libya dominated the news when the very earth was shaking lives apart in Chch, I shook my head. We have so many problems just coping with life, with the things this planet throws at us, that we really don’t need to go and kill each other, to destroy the cities we’ve built together, to destroy our communities and our families and friends. Nature will do that for us. But we never learn.
Well said. We never do learn.
Thank you for reminding us of this anniversary. Now I am remembering.
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Well said indeed. 😦
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Thank you for this sad and heart-felt post. The problem of evil plows on….
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Thank you for this lovely post. It is so true – there are enough sad, difficult things that happen in the world as it is, it would be nice if we could all treat each other better.
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It’s sobering (and terrifying)…
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