south east asia..

greetings from dhaka..

i hadn't planned on writing while here at home doing absolutely nothing of substance, but i felt compelled what with the recent goings on in south east asia. i still find myself in shock as the newpapers update the death toll which seems to be exponentially rising as a new day dawns and more bodies are discovered. i can't even begin to tell you how the hairs on my arm rise up whenever i watch the cnn or bbc coverage of the quake/tsunami.

the most ironic part is that my sister and i had every intention of visiting sri lanka, quite possibly around the time of the tsunami, except that once we figured out the cost vs. the sizes of our collective wallets we decided against it. and thank god that we did.

can you even imagine being on holiday (not to mention just living there, going about your day to day life) and relaxing on the beach feeling as though all is right with the world, when all of a sudden, without even a moments notice you're swept away and thrashed around mercilessly by 30 foot waves?? i can't. i just can't even fathom it.

it makes me wonder why we even bother to fight wars. what's the point? in a matter of seconds the entire world could explode and there wouldn't be a damn thing bush or rumsfeld or bin laden or saddam or any human being could do about it. not a damn thing.

there are millions of people in south east asia right now who will not be having a happy new year. but i still hope that those who can, will.