When Mother Nature is in a bad mood, nothing is sacred, no one is safe. And nowhere is spared. With unnatural strength and speed, her fury is unleashed, turning homes into havoc, complete communities into kindling, even faith into questioning. It happens over and over. Something, somewhere, broken.

Haiti. Tacloban. Mexico City. Oklahoma City. Bohol. Bangladesh.The list goes on and on…Earthquakes across the most populated and poor centres, floods overflowing across vital farmlands, wildfires down under.

Watching from across the world, these moments happen, these tragedies unfold, and then we move on…

Seconds that change time forever are unleashed, the damage is done, and we move on…

The busyness gets the better of us….and new events occur.

New news gains the headlines.

For the people left behind after the storms have passed, after the world has moved on, their world will never be the same. Broken, the challenge to rebuild is made more painful as all around all that can be seen is death, destruction, desperation, and a complete departure of hope.

And yet they move forward. Homes, and hopes, are rebuilt. Because there is no other option. Going forward is the only possible direction to take. They too must move on.

This is when the world needs to continue to watch, to support, to express loudly and frequently how the heroic efforts of survivors are seen, admired and wanting to be strengthened by a world still watching, still praying for the day when the new normal has become a positive force for the future.

Being there‘ takes on so many different shapes and forms when crisis hits. Immediate response brings immediate attention, and hopefully relief.The story brings the support, and the sympathy, and the sense of needing to do something.

But then time, and focus, moves on….

As the months and years pass, and day by day people rebuild their lives, being there shifts in its meaning, in its value. Often, it’s importance strengthens, as the fatigue and frustration can become too much to face, day after day. This is when the being there can simply mean embedding a feeling of not being alone.

Physical presence matters. But it does not stop there. So too does emotional presence.

Not forgetting. But rather by reaching out, reminding those rebuilding that they are in thought, in prayer, being applauded and supported for their remarkable determination to move forward, being defined by their courage, not their crisis.

For one’s darkest days can be felt when one feels so deeply alone.

 

Copyright: ANITA MENDIRATTA 2014