"LIFE ETC."

Trust in mud, Peace under a tent.
Is there a more suitable symbol for "trust" than the ground? Is there a more peaceful scene than that of a huge blue ocean? But what if, someday, somehow, you lose your trust in the ground and the ocean looks hostile rather than peaceful? How can you manage to find a new support?
These questions may look pointless and fictional to you, but thousands of people in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are living in the midst of them at this very moment. Without a warning, at an ordinary moment of an ordinary day, the ground proved that it didn't deserve their trust. Only hours later, the ocean, which had fed them all their lives, fed on their homes, their streets, their friends, and everything they called their "lives." Suddenly, they were left in the middle of nowhere without a belief in which to trust or a concept of peace.
I may sound more sensitive than necessary. That may be because I'm one of those who went through a "light" version of this recent disaster. During the earthquake of August 17th, there weren't any tsunamis. That earthquake was approximately one tenth the magnitude of the one that occurred in the Indian Ocean. But still, it was just like a horror movie. Besides trying to learn whether or not our neighbors were alive, our minds were so busy getting prepared for the next jolt that most of us forgot to eat anything until the next afternoon.
Originally, I had planned this week's column as a list of things we can do with 5 YTL. I had planned to point out that although 5 YTL is nothing for us, if we send an empty SMS to 2868 and donate that amount, it will bring trust and hope to someone else--someone who calls his/her tent his/her "home." But it's hard to plan things when one is writing about such an important topic. The only thing I'm sure of is that any help, even that which seems too little to us, may mean so much for these people.
But I'm aware that ignoring the negative side of reality is a common method of survival. No matter what's said, it's impossible to make most of you imagine how it feels to go through a list of friends and to wonder which of them are trying to breathe under a concrete block.

orhan@ug.bcc.bilkent.edu.tr