The Last Day of 2004

For the past few days, we have been watching the news unfold about the tsunami that hit the coasts along the Indian Ocean. An enormous earthquake occurred off the coast of Ache, the northern region of Indonesia’s island of Sumatra. It resulted in a large tsunami that wrecked the coastlines of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, as well as other countries as far as Africa. The death toll is well over 100,000 but I suspect the real number to be far larger. India and Indonesia are heavily populated and there was to be more than that.

Admitedly, the US news media hasn’t been reporting this tragedy satisfactorily. In addition to my regular views of NBC, CNN and FOX, I have been watching BBC. I think that they have a higher stake in this story as it involves India. According their morning broadcast, the UK has donated 50 million pounds while the US has pledged 18 million. It seems kind of embarrassing for the US to be upstaged by the UK and now China. Yet, I still get defensive when people say that Americans aren’t generous enough. True, we may not donate as large of our GDP as other nations, but in real, concrete terms, the US does donate more than others. In this instance, I think we could be doing more but our money is being stretched in the war as well as other relief operations. In a way, I’m glad that China is taking on some of the burden. So many other “world powers” are all talk but China, in this instance, is acting like one. Kudos for them.

Here in Michigan, all is well for the most part. I am disappointed that Sara has already left and that I was not able to see her over break. I’m now trying to get a hold of Season to see if she wants to do something tonight. So far, no word back. The weather today is great. It may reach 60 today which is really warm for this time of year. It feels almost like spring has arrived for the sun is shining warmly and there is no snow on the ground.