Tipping the Scales

I can’t seem to get away from this reoccurring theme of extremes. It’s as if the understanding I’m trying to reach or the balance I’m looking for is that unattainable union between two magnets of opposite charges. The past several days have been characterized by a similar clash between tragedy and joy; while tsunami fatalities continue to mount across South and Southeast Asia, the two day marriage ceremony – the first of which, known as a ‘hena party’, I attended last night – is a symbol of rebirth and a celebration of life. Tonight’s commemoration of the New Year, a boat cruise and BBQ dinner on the Shitallakhya River near Dhaka, will hopefully help balance the scales that remain tipped heavily to the wrong side.

I fear that noting the most recent casualty counts coming in from across the region will only make things worse. My initial report of “over 12, 000 dead” is so out of date that it’s now the equivalent of only marginal addition to the total count. Who could ever imagine that 12, 000 fatalities could be marginalized? The trouble for most of us is that such astronomical numbers are simply impossible to rationalize. Just as 250 million dollars seems more serious than 5 billion when talking about governmental budgets, so do 3, 700 or 12, 000 fatalities when compared to 120, 000.

The smaller numbers in each of the two cases have a human dimension that we can relate to: cost-equivalencies can be made without too much effort, or a collection of individuals that we can picture in recognizable settings such as a hockey arena or a university campus. The larger numbers, however, are beyond comprehension. What’s another 5 million on top of 250? Another 5, 000 casualties on top of 50, 000?

Though Bangladesh is listed along with the more seriously affected countries in the region in the maps illustrating the tsunami’s reach, life goes on as usual. I haven’t come across any articles in national dailies indicating what the government is doing to help its more seriously affected neighbours - India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar - though there are a number describing how the shallow sea floor in the Bay of Bengal enabled Bangladesh’s southern coast to emerge largely unscathed. Coverage of the disaster, including melodramatic stories depicting “fish flopping around the edges of irrigation ditches shaken by the strong waves” pales in comparison to those appearing in the papers of countries such as Sweden, Germany and Norway whose coasts were untouched by the waves themselves but whose people have nonetheless suffered serious losses.

A Swedish woman who works in their embassy in Dhaka told me that they’ve been receiving numerous calls from families in distress back home trying to locate their relatives and who were unable to get through to the embassy in Bangkok. A number of embassy officials in Dhaka are on stand-by, but they’ll most likely remain in the city for there’s no one to fill in for them if they were to fly to Thailand and add to the numerous government officials who have already flown in from Scandinavia to assist in the recovery effort.

The story of last night’s hena party (the proverbial positive magnet) and this evening’s river cruise will come tomorrow. With a bus to catch in an hour and a boat to board later this afternoon, I’m thinking more positively than I have been over the last few days. I suppose that’s perhaps the best thing that anyone can do in times like these.