Tuesday, March 25, 2014

My heart goes out to the families of MH370's passengers and crews.


It’s a sad day, a very sad day indeed. I woke up today with a heavy heart, thinking about what the families of the crews and passengers feel when they wake up today, that is if they can sleep. I drove to work feeling somber, accompanied by the melancholic songs played by all the radio stations to mark that the whole nation is grieving together. You know how people say that songs can alleviate or change your mood. But today’s list of songs just gave me chills down the spine. It’s amazing how all the lyrics can fit into this situation like a glove. All the songs are about losing someone, about how sorry they are for not being there, about the last smiles and laughters they shared, and about giving up. If I, the person who is not directly related to the victims, can have these mixed emotions and sadness wash all over me, I can only imagine how the family members really feel.

After days of endless questions and doubts, hopes and fears, we have reached to this fearful end. I don’t even know if we can call this “the end” because no definite evidences have been found. It’s all algorithms and technologies and assumptions. I don’t blame the search and rescue team, though. They have definitely done their very best, no doubt at that. If I were one of the family members, I would accept this fate that God has arranged. But I would want answers, real and concrete answers. I mean, sure, we can conclude that it crashed in the Southern Indian Sea, but how? I’m no aviation geek (like some of us have been these past few weeks), but I think if the black box is discovered, it would be such a revelation. We can stop all these cruel assumptions and theories and speculations about what happened to the aircraft. We can put the families and friends at ease by giving them proper closure.

However, despite all the sadness and the grieving, it is amazing how vast the difference is between the reactions of the families when they received the news. Some were enraged, blaming the authorities, claiming that they were hiding information and delaying the rescue process. Some were hysterical, some were still hopeful, and some just gave in to the emotional wreck. But I can see that some were calm, accepting the dreadful news as God’s fate, something that He has arranged, believing that it is Him who created us, and it is to Him that we go back to, despite the time and place. I think that this way of acceptance helps to lighten the burden of living the truth and reality that our loved ones are gone forever. It is by this way that we do not blame each other, because we can never be powerful enough to ask of God’s plans and arrangements. It helps us to start our grieving process instead of creating a war. But I never personally felt this so I can only imagine. If I were one if the family members or friends of the victims, I don’t know which category I would fall into. I’m not quite sure on how I will react. Will I wail hysterically for my loss? Will I just sit there, dumbfounded, thinking about the could-have-beens? Or will I send out my prayers to them, hoping that they didn’t suffer much and asking them to meet me when my time comes? I just don’t know.

I hope this mystery will be solved soon, all the answers and doubts be cleared soon. I hope the black box is discovered soon. Put them at ease. It’s time for us to go back to God and remember our place. No sophisticated technology or hi-tech man-made creations can ever defy God’s power. Always go back to God.





 
Header image by sabrinaeras @ Flickr