We are Responsible

Now that we know, we are responsible.

CHINA:
*A whole generation of children in the town of Juyuan may have been lost in the earthquake.
*The death toll is now 15,000 with that number expected to rise.
*More than 25,000 are still trapped in the rubble two days after the 7.9 quake struck.
*In Yingxiu of the Wenchuan County, only 2,300 have been found alive of the original population of 10,000
*34-year-old Zhang Xiaoyan, who is eight months pregnant was pulled alive from an apartment that partially collapsed in Dujiangyan
*In Juyuan, near Dujiangyan, more than 1,000 people are thought to be trapped in a collapsed school building. More than 50 bodies have been pulled out - but only one girl is reported to have been rescued alive so far.

BURMA:
*Burma's military rulers have tightened access to areas hit by Cyclone Nargis, in spite of international pleas to allow foreign aid workers in.
*The latest official figures put the death toll at almost 38,500 dead and 27,838 missing, according to state radio. However, international bodies estimate the toll to be closer to 100,000, with millions in need of help.
*In the meantime, forecasters say another cyclone is forming off Burma's coast.
*Residents have told the BBC that private citizens have been trying to distribute water and supplies from their own cars - but soldiers have been confiscating the goods.
*While the junta has been spending tremendous effort searching for journalists who have snuck into the country, one million people were stranded in the delta, cut off from the outside world by blocked roads and broken bridges.

China and Myanmar

Tragedy has dominated the news headlines for the past week and a half, and with good reason. Myanmar (Burma) was hit with a powerful tropical cyclone on May 3, 2008. China's Sichuan region was the epicentre for a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on May 12, 2008.

And I didn't pray. I didn't pray, or even think that I should for Burma until my father suggested we do so as a family last night. China? China's death toll made me silently pray "Please God" while I was at the gym, and I left it at that.

Why did I fail to do the most important thing I could do to help?

Selfishness. An earthquake is more likely to affect me than a tropical cyclone, so I didn't pay attention to Burma. I was also "too busy" and had to focus on "other things" like finishing a game on my laptop when I should have been paying attention in class, checking out guys on the bus, motivating myself to run for just 5 minutes more, etc.

However, I am now paying more attention to Burma than before, and am furious, and weeping. How can the Burmese government have such little respect for their own people? Sin, yes I know, but what they are doing to their people is terrible. Hundreds of countries and organisations immediately offered aid to Burma, and they refused. They do not want outsiders in their country. They are only just beginning to accept food and other supplies, but will not allow aid workers into the country, claiming that their military is able to serve their people sufficiently. Journalists are sneaking into the country to show the world what is going on...and instead of helping people who haven't had any aid delivered to them, military helicopters fly above them searching for foreigners who have snuck in to assess the situation and secretly deliver supplies. Bodies are floating in rice paddies, villages have nothing to eat and contaminated water to drink, and Burma refuses aid. I can't stop crying.

China too is hurting, but their grief is not intermingled with anger towards their goverment for lack of aid. In contrast to Burma, China immediately dispatched aid and is accepting foreign aid as well. Less than 48 hours after the earthquake hit, troops have reached the epicentre of the quake and rescue missions are being conducted. I visited the BBC's 'In Pictures: China's search for survivors' and I began to cry at the fifth picture. And I can't stop crying.

The entire time I have been writing this entry, I have been crying. And I can't get any prayers out to God beyond a cry of desperation and pain for Burma and China. I can't stop crying. Oh God, Oh God, Please Lord

Answer to Doubting Prayer

Another post on the same day! My life must be getting exciting!

My first day back at uni today, and I had one class which ended at 4:30. I planned to go straight to the gym afterwards, but my sister called me, and asked me to come home for dinner as she had made it, and didn't want anyone to miss out (Gnocci! YUM!). I agreed, and decided to head to the gym after dinner.

Dinner comes and goes, leaving me with a rather full stomach, and so I decided to let my stomach settle before going. Departure time was set for 7:30, and I had time to kill, so I decided to do some Internet stuff. As I'm on Facebook, a friend started a chat with me, and I talk with her for quite a while, noticing that time has hit 7:45, and I wasn't ready yet. As I'm about to dash off, another friend starts up a chat, asking me to come over and help her with her Math 12 homework (proving various identities). Of course. I figured that this is why God prevented me from heading to the gym.

I walk over (for a bit of exercise and to save on gas) and we begin. I took Math 12 four years ago, so I'm quite rusty, and usually when I know I'm going to be helping someone, I try to review before heading over to their place. As you can tell, I didn't have to opportunity for that at all.

We quickly discuss what's holding her up, I discover she has a test tomorrow and so we start. ARGH! We can't get the first one! We decide to move on. During the second question I realise we didn't start our sesison with prayer. Ah well, that's ok because we need our brains for math, and God gave us brains... But the second question stumps us! So does the third! So I say out loud, "Please help us Lord," half hoping that He'll answer, and half doubting that He will. It is, after all, just math.

Wouldn't you know it, we prove the statement! Yes! "Thank you Lord!" And then the next one too! "Thank you again Lord!" And then the third one! "Thank you Lord!!!" And then we get to the next and do not solve it. Oh. "Please Lord, will you help us?" After trying two possible ways to prove to equation, my friend asks that this be the last one as her brain is fried. Alright, we will make this our last one. I try one more time, and remember a trick that we can use! "Thank you Lord! We solved it!"

An example of answered prayer, even when I am not convicted that the Lord will answer. Praise God for the ways He works, and when He answers prayer, no matter how doubtful the requester is. I am now praying for success for my friend's math test.

Western Men Going Soft?

A newspaper article I found:

'Australian men are going soft. That's the conclusion being drawn from a survey of 1000 Aussie men, which rated their "blokey-ness".

'Asked questions about how often they played footy, got dirty under the bonnet of their car or used moisturiser, the number who responded that they take good care of their skin far outweighed the number who know what a socket wrench is for.

'The iconic "hard Aussie bloke" is a dying breed, according to the survey, commissioned by Kirks Brewed Ginger Beer.

'Only five per cent of all Australian men regularly play a game of football with their friends, almost 50 per cent admit it has been months since they tinkered with their car and shed ownership has dropped 27 per cent over the course of a generation.

'On the flipside, concern for skin care is growing and Australian men are not afraid to wear pink.

'Cleansing with face wash was practised by 44 per cent and one per cent more used moisturiser.

'Almost a third said they owned an item of pink clothing.

'Last year Popular Mechanics magazine lambasted American males for losing touch with their DIY abilities.

'The article's author, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, wrote that although there was no archive for tracking men's handiness "there is... a lot of anecdotal evidence that what used to be taken for granted as ordinary mechanical skills now amounts to something unusual".

Popular Mechanics' list of 25 skills every man should know:

1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Manoeuvre a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network

from : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10508013

After-Effects of Hawai'i

*I can't stand being cold anymore- it was raining a few days ago, and I needed four layers in order to feel warm!!!!!
*I'm also far more interested in tanning now, than is healthy, or than I ever was before.
*I can't be bothered to do anything, as I am too used to doing nothing in the name of Relaxation.
*I also don't care that summer semester starts tomorrow, which also means that I really don't care about my classes...I see the presence of a C lurking in the misty shadows of my future.

On the bright side:
I can wear white now, and look good because I still have a tan.