Buat Blog?

I got a small shock when i opened my blog today. Instead of the usual "Create a Blog" on the top right hand corner, it said "Buat Blog". For a moment, i couldn't understand what that meant. And then, ka ching! I'm typing from my room for the night in the exotic island of Bali, and "Buat Blog" is Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesia's national language) for "Create a Blog".

We live in a very very connected world.

Talking about a connected world, the recent catastrophe that has hit Japan is most heart wrenching and devastating. In this part of the world (Asia Pacific) near the "ring of fire", earthquakes are not uncommon. It's more of the recent consecutive series of earthquakes and tsunamis in recent history that is disturbing. I do not remember growing up to read or watch the news about widespread devastation, of people dying in the hundreds of thousands, of villages or parts of a country being wiped off the earth (yes, i know, in Africa, shit happens all the time, but that's another bitter story).

I remember the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 which hit Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka really badly. I remember sitting at my work desk, and watching the death toll rising exponentially on live news feeds. After it surpassed the 50,000 mark, my little brain could not fathom the scale anymore. It just seemed like a hell lot of people. Poor people. Poor people who couldn't afford to live in better areas.

Then there was the earthquake in Szechuan Province, China; and the earthquake in Christ Church, New Zealand. Oh, and let's not forget the eruption of Mount Merapi in Java, Indonesia.

And now, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

In our daily pursuit and obsession of the latest technological developments or material acquisitions, it is extremely humbling to be reminded that we are and will always be at the mercy of Mother Nature. That at the end of the day, most of what we've been concerned about, do not matter; and we're back to the basics and the bare necessities.

It's a sad sad time. My thoughts are with our fellow humans in Japan, and the helpless in Libya, and the hungry in Africa, and the exploited in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and China....

... there's no end.