It is time to be selfless...

The world is in turmoil. Recently, calamities seem to be making headlines worldwide and in all forms of media. Natural disaster after natural disaster - they just keep rolling in as if there were no tomorrow.  

Sometimes, I find it depressing reading the news about harrowing events, especially when thousands of lives are concerned. One can't help but wonder: what's the point of reading all this, other than being up-to-date about the world's affairs, if you can't lend a helping hand? On the one hand, I wish I could be there to offer my services or skills that the aid organisations so desperately need. On the other, I feel I am not ready to take on a task of such a magnitude. It is a huge responsibility to be a volunteer and a helper. There should be more people like Mother Teresa. She is such an inspiration to us all. But I am sure there are those who emulate her devotion and care for people, or at least they try. 

China seems to be getting the brunt of things this year. If it is not the protests by people who strongly support the Tibetan cause, it is Mother Nature intervening, giving China a harder time by throwing in an earthquake that has claimed 18000 lives now. The Burmese junta is also in the same predicament as China. First, the brutal crackdown in September of 2007, which wasn't handled properly, and just less than 2 weeks ago, the Cyclone Nargis struck the already-impoverished country, leaving a million people homeless and famished. In the wake of all these natural disasters that have been happening, my heart goes out to all those who died and to those who survived but lost their loved ones to the wrath of Mother Nature.  

I just hope all that has been obliterated be built again as soon as possible so that the survivors can move past the trauma and continue living again.