Bigfork Eagle editorial

Above average

Tsunami-a month ago most people didn't even know what that word meant. Heck, most people probably wouldn't even have been able to spell it. A month ago if you asked the average person on the street where Sri Lanka was, he or she wouldn't have been able to venture a remote guess. It is difficult to wrap your brain around the number 150,000. Could most people even count that high without giving up due to sheer boredom? Can the average person truly grasp the title of orphan? What does it mean to exist in this world without any family members-to be truly and utterly alone? The average person didn't have to think about these things a month ago. That has all changed now.

It is sad that it takes a disaster of such magnitude for people to think about such things as contaminated water, mass graves and unidentified children. Those things were a reality in Thailand, Indonesia and India long before a tidal wave swept across those countries. An already fragile existence has been completely shattered. Chaos is rampant. Disease could soon be catastrophic. It is mind blowing-especially for the average person.

To fathom that in a matter of minutes 150,000 people lost their lives in a truly horrific natural disaster seems impossible. To fathom that 150,000 children live every day without the luxuries of tap water, indoor plumbing, decent food and safety from sexual predators is even more impossible. Yet, that was the situation in these countries even before "tsunami relief" became the catch phrase on every television news broadcast across the United States.

I am an average person. I am prone to make mistakes just like every other average person. But perhaps one of the biggest mistakes I have made is being aware of dire need in other parts of the world and doing nothing to alleviate that need. Preexisting dire need has now been transformed into deadly need. Without aid, tsunami survivors will die. That aid will come from the average person, like myself, who cannot ignore the need any longer. So we give. We give what money we can to help those who suffer. But long after the water has dried up and the people have moved on, will we continue to help?

In my recent "Resolutions" editorial I wrote, "When one resolves to help others, they truly help themselves." A very "astute" reader later pointed out that the sentence was grammatically incorrect. Let me rephrase. The average person can make a difference. Our actions, not our words, make us human. Our deeds make us above average.