We can always do more. Every person in the world in any situation can do more. Human beings have such individual potential already, but when concentrated into a group effort, the power to help and improve grows exponentially. This reasoning applies to any emergency response, any attempt on improving an existing system and any effort of one person helping another.
The globalization of the world during the past century has not only opened up new opportunities and avenues for human communication and cooperation, but has also increased the responsibilities of each global participant for the well-being of all. This is most clearly and unfortunately seen in large-scale catastrophic events—whether man-made or wrought by nature. This was seen when the tsunami swept over South and Southeast Asia.
When I saw the devastation and ruin this body of water had brought upon thousands of people, a shudder of horror and disbelief swept over my body. A nightmare had come alive on the television screen where real people were running and screaming in real time and families were being torn apart on a sunny day by this inhumane force of nature.
The images that the media presented from that moment on were heart-wrenching. Many of those people had had nothing to begin with and now ironically life had brought more misery. But then something triggered much different emotions. These new feelings were of love and absolute respect for the thousands that ran to their aid. Conflicts were forgotten and bickers thrown aside as all of humanity teamed up in a global effort to help these countries.
I am proud of North America for its amazing dedication and energy in responding to the tsunami. Now some may say that we could have done more. Of course, they are right. As I mentioned previously, if all our energy was applied in the right direction and with much intensity we might make a paradise on earth. The problem is that while we could have accomplished miracles by sending more supplies and man-power to those disaster areas, we were responsible for others too. North America has to look after its own citizens and split its energy and resources on all the daily problems and conflicts that arise on this continent. We gave so much, as we have done in many other global catastrophes, but unless we find even more efficient ways of focusing our efforts and resources, I think that North America has done as much as it can for now. If we do more we may unintentionally cause harm on the home front. It is not as if there is some powerful someone sitting and twiddling his thumbs while saying to himself: “Nope. I don’t feel like helping any more. We could give more but who cares about those people dying out there?” I do not believe there are people like that here and I know that if the opportunity arises, we will help more.