clavus

I felt bad when the news broke. Now I don’t feel so bad. I feel in awe of nature more than anything else. What the Hell is wrong with me? I mean this is as devastating as a nuclear attack. The scale of the disaster is tremendous.

But I just don’t feel it.

When Rwanda lost something like 300,000 people in a matter of weeks, I was deeply affected. Reading the paper one morning, I noticed tears hitting the page. I was quietly weeping.

During the madness in Bosnia I wept. Actually, I full-on cried. I was reading yet another story about the pointless killing, and how families had funerals at night to try to avoid snipers. There was a sidebar about a couple of kids getting shot while the family was burying their brother, and I just fucking lost it.

But this thing doesn’t resonate. I guess man’s cruelty get me. But when Mother Nature does it, deep down inside I know she’s just thinning the herd.

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soma

Same, but I don't feel my reaction to this natural catastrophe is inappropriate at all.

Stompy

I've never felt deeply emotional about any large event.. the tsunami, 9/11, anything.

I mean, it's unfortunate and all, but I'm never jolted by it.

I had to put my chinchilla to sleep last week and I was pretty saddened by that, though, so it's not like I'm void of emotion.

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Fate

I was more shocked than anything. I had to state the deathcount and a personal statement in my MSN name to reference the event.
There's nothing you could have done really, no force could have stopped this.

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Painted

I was also shocked at first. A hundred thousand dead people is no joke. But now it's more of a "oh, too bad for them"

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powerclown

For myself, things like this are much easier to accept when they aren't political in nature, or otherwise man-made. I have basic human sympathy for the loss of life and that's about it.

Cynthetiq

Mankind is cruel by and large on its own.

Nature is even worse.

Once you keep the TV on and keep watching it's numbing and desensitizing. It's just a number that keeps on getting larger, but it's still just a number.
I posted this earlier...

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flat5

Perhaps because it's abstract.

If you really think about no shelter, no food, no water, loss of loved ones, loss of property, loss of bank, etc., it's horrendous.

MXL

Just when you think mankind has become master of our own destiny, mother nature reminds us who is really in control. The force release was the equivlent to one million Hiroshima size nuclear weapons. This event has really reminded me how quickly mother nature can revoke your life. Overall, it does seem a little surreal, coming right after Christmas.

raeanna74

I have felt the same disconnected feeling concerning this catastrophy. I think my feelings are affected by a couple things.

1. The absolute amoral cause of this. Not political or caused by mankind in any way.
2. The near completely helplessness of myself with regards to this beyond giving money to the Red Cross.
3. The face that this almost seems surreal. Because it's so far removed I almost subconsciously feel like it's just another movie.
4. I've sought outscientific information with regards to this to explain why alert systems weren't available, how the tetonics actually functioned, etc. and found very little. Making it seem even more unreal. It's all about the people and the money.
5. There is so much hoopula with regards to the money that the 'United States' is giving as well as how much other countries are contributing that it seems almost like a race to see who can be the biggest giver. The 'competition' with regards to the help offered seems ridiculous and disgusting. I'm not saying the people over there won't benefit from it all - perhaps they will moreso because some competition could be good in raising the amounts given. Yet I feel almost ashamed of my country showing off in this way.

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anleja

When I woke up this morning, I had no foresight that I may die today, just like those 100,000+ probably had no idea. Just seeing this thing happen the way it did makes me realize my sense of mortality a little bit more. More of a somber feeling than anything truly shocking.

thingstodo

I think it is just mind numbing. Plus, it's someplace else and you don't know any of these people. Guess for me it just doesn't seem real - or relevent - or that there is anything I can do about what's already happened.

Also, I understand we (the US) is sending $35 billion cash plus whatever else support we provide, so my charity work is done on this one. I suppose we should send money to these people than the people in the US below the poverty level and especially the kids in this group that have no choice regarding their current lot in life. Or the people with no medical coverage....I could go on. Guess I wish we would take care of our own and then toss some around the world.

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Fohur2

152,000 Dead 510,000 Injured

Maybe it's because its over a wide range,with 9/11 you could see it,it was in one place at one time.But this is a mass wipe of large area.

Bill O'Rights

Seeing the bodies of dead children lined up, row upon row, with mothers grieving over them, gets me more than seeing the bodies of adults. It probably shouldn't...but it does, nonetheless. It could be from seeing a dead child, no older than my own two year old son. I know that he got extra hugs that night, and I protested a little less about dragging my stiff joints down on the floor to play toys with him.
Insofar as feeling anything else...I suppose disbelief comes to mind. The death toll is over 100,000, now What the hell is that? Helplessness also comes to mind. Aside from donating cash to the Red Cross, there is not a damn thing that I can do about it.

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bendsley

In the fight between Man and Mother Nature; Nature will always win.

This was indeed a horrible thing to happen. If you don't feel a lot of emotion, you will when/if this ever happens to your area.

I have friends in Thailand, so I am worried about them.

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Bobaphat

Generally these kinds of things don't bother me that much, but I certainly feel sympathy to those having to go through it. It probably is because it is so far away, that there is no "real" effect on my personal life. This time its a little different because I have a friend living in Indonesia that nobody has heard from yet.

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Stick

I have no feelings about it at all. It's just numbers that pop up on the tv every 10 minutes. For me, it's like looking into a sports stadium and wondering what the final score is going to be in the tsunami game.

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ARTelevision

what I'm hearing from others who are far removed from this sounds very conceptual - even though it is expressed as sentiment. it's like thinking about this thing and the irrationality and horror of it - but I do not hear actual feelings coming through the voiced emotion. we appear to have a sense that we "should" feel deeply about this and therefore some of us say we do.

of course, some of us are more "sensitive" than others, I suppose.

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El Kaz

Aside from sadness, I can't help but feeling a bit pissed at the frequency they add/update the numbers of death.
SURE news is good, and SURE people should be made aware that this is HUGE and they should be sensitized about it so they are more willing to help, but I can't help but cringe everytime I hear the death count... it looks like it became a death-o-meter... too morbid for me.
I guess I don't wanna face the truth :-/

anleja

I read 35 million, not billion, although that number is bound to rise.

RangerDick

I'll admit that watching the death toll number constantly tick up on tv is somewhat desensitizing. What drives home the horror to me are the individual stories that are beginning to trickle out of the area, stories of people being swept away to their deaths in front of their loved ones eyes.

Human tragedy is human tragedy, whether it is inflicted by another group of human beings (Bosnia), or by some natural force (tsunami.) The fact that a natural force caused 100,000+ deaths doesn't make it an easier pill for me to swallow than if it was another genocidal massacre. I guess people have different types of coping mechanisms in these types of situations, none necessarily better than any other.

Some people may say "Ho Hum- I just don't feel it". I say, "From now on, screw Mother Nature, screw the caribou, screw the 3-Toed Purple Plumed Hoot Owl. From now on....Plunder! Plunder! Plunder! Drill for oil in the pristine, untouched corners of Alaska! Deplete the ozone layer! Dump your used motor oil down the gutter instead of taking it to a proper disposal facility! Take that Mother Nature! You'll pay.....oh yes you'll pay dearly."

She'll come around, and when she does, well...as Mr. Burns once said, "Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she's losing. Well I say, hard cheese."

She may have won the battle this time, but not the war!

Halx

I simply don't know what to feel. I'm expected to feel sad, but I don't know anyone who is affected by this. My life goes on...

I've been looking for avenues through which to be amazed. I'm trying to find personal accounts of tragedy and video of the event. I'm trying to get a little more inside.

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Lasereth

Exactly. If the tsunami were to hit the US and kill 100,000 people I bet we would all care a little bit more. When the destruction is thousands of miles away it doesn't affect us at all.

-Lasereth

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Grasshopper Green

It has deeply saddened me; the first night that I heard about it I sat in my sons room and watched him while he slept and thought of all the children who were orphaned that day, how many died in absolute terror, and how many parents would grieve over the loss of a child. It has made me feel helpless; all I can really do is donate money, which I have no problem doing, but throwing money at the problem doesn't seem like enough. I don't watch TV, so maybe I haven't become desensitized because of the constant updates and such.

Karby

i don't feel anything about this at all. i tried...but nothing came. i mean i try to sympathize with/for the victims, but for some reason i just can't. all i can manage to say is 'sorry for you' and 'stuff happens.'

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MXL

As a parent, we have a very deep and basic instinct to protect our children. I know I would give my life to save my children and when I see an event like this it reminds me how vunerable I am to chance. When I see a parent look for the there dead children, I think, what if that were me. I guess being a father, I have the hunter protector instinct.

Mephisto2

No. I do not feel ho-hum.

This continues to affect me deeply.

Were there more that I could do, over the few hundred dollars I've already donated, I wouldn't blink.

Mr Mephisto

TM875

I don't seem moved by this at all. Perhaps it's because, if the even doesn't directly effect me, it's hard for it to affect me at all. Sept. 11, Bosnia, Tokyo earthquake, even the California earthquake in the 90's...none of that moved me at all.

Any number of people can leave your life at any moment. The friend from school that you knew for your whole life, well, they go off to college. You never see them again. The guy down the hall from you that you became friends with, well, he gets transferred across the country. No more communication. People disappear from our lives every day...and yet we don't often act as if they were dead, even though the amount of contact with them is equal.

Mass diasters, perhaps, seem less painful than individual events. There was a really bad car crash right outside my house on Christmas eve; family died...that was moving. 100,000 people dead across the world? I'm sorry, I just can't feel it.

I wish the best for all the families that were hurt by this, but I'm just happy that it hasn't happened here.

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RangerDick

Fair enough. At least you and other posters are being honest and not merely feigning sympathy just for the hell of it. This comment isn't necessarily directed to you, but to everyone who has expressed similar sentiments....perhaps you wouldn't be so apathetic about this if you lived near, or you had lost friends, relatives, or coworkers in some of the examples you quoted earlier. That's too bad, I hope you never do experience such a loss. Many of us have.

I just can't understand the "I don't care, it's not me" attitude.

Charlatan

I am the exact opposite. I am numb to the carnage that man can do to man... I am outraged but emotionally numb (if that makes sense).

However, this tragedy effected me because of the randomness of it all.

It could happen to anyone anytime. You are chilling on the beach with your family one minute and the next your children are being washed out to sea.

The Earth just doesn't give a shit and there's nothing you can do about it.

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Stiltzkin

Exactly. And I spend maybe two hours per week at the most watching TV, yet I have still been desensitized to these kinds of things anyway (probably due video games or something, who knows)

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TM875

Ya know, I really feel bad about not feeling bad. Honest, I do. Perhaps our society has gone too far into the 'survival of the fittest' Darwinian attitude these days. I mean, look at all the random violence on the news each night. We sit and watch it while eating dinner, shrug and say "that's too bad" or "gee, isn't that terrible?"...but we can't do anything about it. The next day, more of the same. Why should we feel worse about this? Because lots and lots of people died at once? Many of those same people might have died over the course of the year, two years, five years...but do we hear about it? Of course not. It's the scale of this matter that makes it international news.

What I'm saying is, yes, it is a sad state that we really can't feel emotion. I emphesize with those who have lost people. I'm very glad that I'm not personally hurt. I can only hope that those in the tsunami-destroyed areas get back on their feet without much trouble.

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Rdr4evr

Although I feel terrible about this situation, I feel more saddened than angry, whereas, violence amongst each other leaves me not only saddened, but furious as well. I can accept this as an outside force that we had no control over (although heart wrenching nevertheless). It is the senseless violence we commit amongst our own kind that is avoidable and unnecessary , mother nature on the other hand will not cease to exist, and is beyond control.

It is events like this that make us realize how insignificant we really are. We can kill each other and commit acts of violence towards our own kind until we end up removing our very own existence, but we fail to realize we can all be obliterated within minutes due to the wrath of nature. Simply put, we are nothing in this vast universe. In the billions of years the Earth has existed, we have been around for only a fraction of time; really, we are a mere glitch, which makes it all the more senseless to destroy each other.

I truly hope it doesn't take a giant rock headed for earth to make us realize that we should come together and live in peace. It shouldn't be tragedies alone that make us come together for a couple days until we all forget and move on to our typical violence and hatred.

If we can not come to love one another, I look forward to that asteroid, and I expect it.

Trisk

I don't really feel any type of deep loss or depression or anything horrible over the tsunami either...but I do sort of gain a new perspective on things from hearing the story. As others have said, thinking about how so many people could die at once from one random event in nature is kind of scary. It makes you realize how small you are...how unpredictable things can be...

The fact that this was a tourist area somehow makes it even more amazing to me. When I think about all the people who thought they'd take a nice vacation and lost everything - loved ones, all their belongings...literally everything...then i do start to feel something.
Because it wasn't even just people living their day-to-day lives. This was, for many, supposed to be a nice break from everyday life.
And instead, a tsunami's what they got.

But you can't (or at least I can't) let events millions of miles away from you touch you so much that they effect your own day-to-day life. People are dying and mourning all over the world but for me, life goes on. Even for the mourners, life goes on. If I let every single tragedy I heard about each day affect me, I would never be happy.

As for people saying that the US should "support it's own before supporting people miles away"...I REALLY don't agree. This was a tourist area where many Americans visit each year, first of all. I'm sure there were some Americans there at the time. Second of all, if you want to talk about people who have no choice in their place in life, the people who got hit by that tsunami are it. Do you think they wanted to be hit by a tsunami? Hell no! They were just trying to enjoy a nice vacation. At least the people in the US have a chance at free education and class mobility so that they CAN attain all those things that you seem to think our govt should be giving to THEM instead of to people dying in a natural disaster miles away from us.
I think the people dying NOW are in more immediate need of the money than many of those people who don't have free health care.

Oh, and I really hope you were joking RangerDick.

amonkie

For myself, and I'm sure a lot of other people, when something goes wrong, I try and find the blame. In this case, there's really no one to point the fingers at except Mother Nature, and it's not as if it's going to go "Oh, I'm sorry about that. How bought I cancel a tornado or two to make you feel better?" I kind of see it as a part of life, and part of the evolution of our planet. Yes, it's sad that people were lost, but no one person has better odds of survival from day to day than anyone else.

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Shpoop

this was my train of thought:

-wow, a tsunami
-holy shit, over 150,000 dead, this is one of the worst tragedies ever
-wait a second, World War II killed over 60,000,000

now dont get me wrong, im not trying to take away from the tragedy in any way, or the people that were lost in it. my heart goes out to all of them and their families. but we have to worry about ourselves alot more than we have to worry about nature. many many more people have died from starvation and civil wars in the same level of third world countries, and did receive anywhere near this amount of pity. im not saying these people don't deserve it, im saying that regrettably, there are many other people who deserve it too but dont receive it.

DelayedReaction

I suspect you're allowed to feel however the hell you want. I think it sucks, but I'm not going to wail and gnash my teeth over it.

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Grancey

I have spent a lot of time on the Gulf of Mexico. Walking on the beach or just standing there looking out to the gulf, I am and always have been mesmerized by the awesome power of Mother Nature. When at one moment you can watch children laughing and playing in the tide, and in the next moment see them violently washed away to their death you try to rationalize the reason for such an event. But there is no reason. There is nothing to comprehend. You just have to accept such tragedy and go on with your daily routine with the awareness that your life and the lives of others can be ended just like that. Of course we can drive defensively, look both ways before crossing the street, and wash our hands frequently, but there is no way to prepare for or be more aware in order to prevent such an event as a tsunami from taking our lives.

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eyeronic

Had an acquaintance tell me he thought the tsunami was, "awesome" today. I didn't kill him. Is that ho-hum?

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Vincentt

I too was brought to tears over those man made horrors. I do not feel quite as bad when it is nature. It is so uncontrollable...

When man kills man it hurts me more then when nature kills man.