May. 29, 2006 - 20:24 MDT

KEEPS RETURNING

Today, a day of sad remembrance and honor to the fallen in battle.

Just thinking a bit, those of our veterans who didn't lose their lives in battle gave a portion of their lives away to their country.

War and warlike actions are recounted in the earliest written history of our world.

What an utter waste it all has been.

I read in this morning's Rocky Mountain News about the recent earthquake in Java where the death toll at present is 4,500 people.

The main article has a subhead, "Aid slow to arrive for hundreds of thousands left homeless." I shall quote a small article by Chris Brummitt of the Associated Press about the difficulties there.

Survivors must 'start from zero'

JAMPRIT, Indonesia -- "Poniran's daughter was breathing when he dug her from the ruins of his house. but 5-year-old Ellie died in his arms as they waited for treatment at a hospital overflowing with injured."

"Her last words were, "Daddy, Daddy," said Poniran, who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. He took a break from searching the rubble of his village for salvageable items. "I have to start my life from zero again."

"Twenty-four hours after Saturday's earthquake, tens of thousands of survivors faced an uncertain future. In less that a minute, the quake collapsed houses in village after village in this rice growing district in the heart of Indonesia''s densely populated Java Island, killing thousands."

"Most people lost everything."

"We're short of everything. Clothes, food, water. All are gone. We are poor people, but our lives still matter," said Budi Wiyana, 63, whose house was destroyed."

The quake is the latest in a string of natural disasters in the world's most populous Muslim nation, including the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 130,000 Indonesians."

"Many in this deeply religious in this region saw God's hand in the disaster."

"Allah is angry with his people and the country's leaders said one villager, Wagiran. "This was a warning."

++++++++++

These natural disasters occur all over our world, all too frequently. What if in the early days of this world of humans a generosity of spirit had taken hold and leaders as well as citizens demanded that preparations to alleviate victims of disasters, rather than engage in the senseless slaughter occurring in war ? If that precept was ever floated, apparently it sank without a trace.

Is the world going to remain a set of paranoid schizophrenic maniacs forever ? Spending trillions on so called defense compared to relatively little on succor to the folks who truly need rapidly rendered aid. Does it have to be this way ?

Supposing that rather than beefing up the military as fighting men they had beefed up the military as workers and technicians in disaster relief ? certainly to me it seems much more economic than fighting wars all the time. Perfecting rapid and efficient aid would certainly have helped our Gulf Coast People on the last one. Coordination of forces and resources could have been much better handled by a trained force than by the farce now in office.

Seems as if I am a drug addict, praying that someone will get that Monkey off my back because it KEEPS RETURNING . . . . . . . . . .

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