The Asian Tsunami – What Lesson?

That day started off as normal as in any other days. Yeah! me still remember, that day was a day after Christmas, most people was still in their holiday mood, looking forward to celebrate the coming new year–it was on the 26th December 2004, a day known amongst Christians the world over as the Boxing day. But what was to happen that day would long be remembered as the day when the human souls were greatly humbled in the wake of a Tsunami which struck following a powerful earthquake off the coast of Aceh in the island of Sumatera, Indonesia.

When that fateful day had ended, almost a quarter of a million people had perished in places as far away as the coast of Somalia, thousands of miles from the earthquake’s epicenter, notwithstanding, the brunt of the Tsunami was borne by the people of Aceh itself.

The whole world was caught off guard for the first time in its living history. A great devastation caused by an event simply known as the Asian Tsunami, unfolding right under its “nose”, feeling helpless and unable to do anything except watching it “life” in utter disbelieve – as if the whole world was walking in a daze having witness a calamity so awesome and so awe-inspiring to the human spirit not seen before in anyone’s living memory.

The days following the monstrous Tsunami saw the world waking up to a new dawn of humanity - a defining moment for humankind. As the world staggers to pick itself up from the specter of the Tsunami, a new sense of camaraderie never seen before in the history of mankind suddenly bloomed in the aftermath of the spectacle – the earth citizens of all colors and persuasions jumped to the rescue band wagon in great gusto without the slightest hesitation and in all sincerity in a show of great selflessness to helping those touched by the catastrophe.

Suddenly all the physical barriers were broken, borders were opened and all restrictions imposed following the 911 disaster were dismantled and made less burdensome. Suddenly all the benevolent human traits thus far buried deep in our psyche came to the fore in great abundance manifesting itself in the eagerness of the donors to just help the affected people recover from the tragedy and get on with their lives. Indeed, it was like a miracle to see what a Tsunami can do to the spirit of human endurance, a utopia that can only be dream of, to get us to forget about our petty differences in pursuit of the higher goals in life in a magnified way as one common citizen of the world living in the same “boat”.

What lesson from the Tsunami? Again, it was indeed an overwhelming experience, a stark reminder of our own fragility against our surrounding elements. But in the face of a misfortune, the human spirit remained resilient and has always managed to recover to live for another day.

It took the Tsunami just a day to end decades of fighting for the GAM and brought everlasting peace to the Aceh province which had suffered the most, seeing what has become of the squabbling in our world nowadays, are we asking for another Tsunami before we can talk and make peace with each other?