1) Message boards : Cafe SETI : Earthquake in Asia (Message 58293) Posted 30 Dec 2004 by Archeon of Thrace Post: I say, give what you can to whom you can. I say - pray if that is in your theology, or think positive thoughts, or vibe positive enery, etc, etc. We can do both, give in this world material goods (cash is also a material good in this sence) and give in the spritual realm too! But at the very least remember that for the over whelming majority of us who live in the west (that includes Europe and North America, the most affluent societies to have existed on Earth)even if we lose everything we have overnight or to a natural disaster here, we will never be as badly off as the majority who lost everything along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. Also remember that the dead, are less poorly off than the living, the dead are dead - nothing more can happen to them now, the living must go on living - surviving - rebuilding..... The magintude of the disaster does put our puny powers as a species in focus! Even now with all our technology and science, we are unable to predict these kinds of events, and are completely powerless to prevent them in any case. What I find most disturbing is that no warning system exists to at least mitigate some of the potential effects of an event like this. This point is even more striking when you realize that the US military can watch an Afgani shepherd take a crap behind a bush from 25000 miles in space. But then again they can't catch Osama either - so I guess asking the US military to do anything usefull maybe calling on them to do the impossible. Hope for the best, give what you can, help if you can.

 
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