okay.... tsunami.

I can't read any more.... can't see anymore.... it makes me sick to my stomach to think of all those people.... all the repercussions of this disaster.... it will be many many years before things begin to get better. Some people will never get any closure.... some people will never be found, dead or alive.

Not too long ago, a plane crashed into the twin towers in new york. A couple thousand americans died. It was tragic and enraging, because it was perpetrated by pure human malice. Loved ones died according to the dictates of an insane stranger's hatred.

The mormons chased me down at a bus stop here in regina, while I was at bible school. They asked me how I thought God could let such a terrible thing happen, and it was simple to me. God didn't blow up those towers. Suicide bombers did. They were to blame. And if you wanted to know why suicide bombers did it, I could blame George Bush Sr. and foreign relations policies and sanctions and food for oil. I could even go further back and finger the great patriarch, Abraham, for putting Ishmael and his mother out in the cold.....

The point is, whether my pat answers were correct or justifiable, the bombing of the two towers was a crime against people, by people. People made choices which led to more choices which led to people dying in an unjust fashion.

Today I'm asking why. A giant earthquake triggered a giant wave which wiped tens of thousands of people out of existence. I can't blame Osama bin Laden, or Saddam Hussein, or George Bush, or any other diabolical entity. There is only on individual who has any power over tectonic plates, and I would really like to ask Him why. Why was it necessary for all these people to die? Why so horrific? Why does it need to cause such longstanding suffering for so many survivors?

So many things in my mind can be attributed to the fallen nature of man, but this one escapes my paradigm. I'm pretty sure I'll never have an answer to my questions, but I still have to ask them.

I've always ignored natural disasters, but this one's a doozy. I suppose eventually all those things you ignore over the course of your life will muscle their way into your consciousness. After all, we weren't put here to ignore life, but to experience it. I think you're better off asking all the questions when they come up, otherwise one day you might just have a faith shaking question overload. I've had a few of those. They suck.

So take it from me. It's better to have no answers to questions you've already asked.

I have nothing to complain about. Like the guy at work said, "you know you're in trouble when the saskatchewan guy says 'dude, that's a big wave!!'"