A Life With No Fear

clipped from www.islamonline.net I watched a program on TV about the survivors of the tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. I noticed how resilient the people are. There are still miles and miles of 2-meter-high rotting rubble that needs to be cleared so the people can start seriously rebuilding. Many people have left the area to inland villages because they have nowhere to stay and are awaiting the time when they can safely return. In the course of this program I saw an interview with an old woman. She had become a kind of mother figure to many of the orphan children and youth who were saved from the tsunami and had lost their families. She looked very old but also very calm, like she had a lot of inner strength. I thought, how special she is! What she said was translated and so I understood what she wanted to say. She was telling the young people to be responsible and not to think only about themselves; that true and lasting survival depended on everyone working together to build up the community again.