I woke up this morning after my initial rant last night and discovered that perhaps my wishes came true a little when I signed online. I was greeted by the Yahoo frontpage and the lead story was (gasp!) NOT about Hilary, Obama, or anything American. The internet finally caught on to the Myanmar Cyclone and the lead story was all about it. Unfortunately, the news is even worse than we feared. Remember yesterday's USA Today that had the death toll at 350? Now Yahoo is reporting the death toll has soared past 22,000 and there are still 41,000 people missing, presumed dead. This could mean that potentially 63,000 people are dead, and I still wouldn't be surprised if it went higher. I realize that parts of my initial rant were naive and written in the emotion of the moment. But seriously folks, as a good friend pointed out to me last night, we give more attention and media coverage to one horse being euthanized at the race track over the weekend (The Kentucky Derby incident on Saturday involving the filly Eight Bells) than possibly 63,000 people being swept into eternity. For all the fuss we made over Hurricane Katrina (and rightly so, don't get me wrong, it was an "American Tragedy"), we sure don't seem to notice when disasters much worse occur around the world. Out of sight, out of mind seems to be the adage (or perhaps more appropriately, "Out of America, Out of the News") and I can't help but still feel frustrated that as I stated earlier, I'd bet fewer Americans can even find Myanmar on the map than can tell you there's been a Cyclone.
On a completely unrelated rant, did this business with the horse at the Derby not strike anyone else as a little crazy? They seem to euthanize any and all race horses these days. Barbaro, the horse that won the 2006 Derby, was euthanized a few months later when he shattered his back leg in the Preakness. Now Eight Bells, the first filly to run in a long time with the big boys in the Derby, breaks both front ankles and is euthanized on the track. What if this was the case with athletes? What if when a player got injured we euthanized them on the spot, no questions asked? I know the two issues are world's apart, but the idea that once a horse bred to race gets injured must be let go kinda bothers me. Not because I'm some "save the whales" animal lover (I'm not, in the sense that I don't hold vigils for animals and sign petitions), but I mean, surely there is someone somewhere who would like to buy the horse from the owner, and let it live out it's days, as tough and race-free as they may be, in peace and quiet on a horse ranch somewhere? Why do we decide that's not an option and the creature must be euthanized. If anyone reading this knows more about horses than me, let me know. I'm not as mad about this issue as I am about the lack of media coverage for the cyclone, but I am curious. Like I said, if this principle held up in other sports, you'd see lots of the greatest athletes of our time laid to rest early in their careers after suffering injuries. It just seems a little wild to me, that's all.
Oh well, I'll continue to monitor the information coming out about the Cyclone in Myanmar, until then, realize that most of the population there is Buddhist or Hindu or Muslim, so the other sad statistic is the fact that many of the people there perished without knowing the Lord. Makes one realize how urgent the great commission truly is. Obviously I believe God is sovereign and this is all part of his perfect plan and timing, but I'm still allowed to be a little frustrated and upset about it. :-) Pray for Myanmar, and pray the media gives it the attention is needs. Pray the body count doesn't rise much higher either...
The above image is a satellite photo of the Myanmar area that was affected by the cyclone before and after it hit... as you can see, major flooding has occurred, the landscape has been permanently altered for the time being in some cases...
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