Tragedy in Morocco

(Photo by Fadel Senna)

At a moment of cataclysmic tragedy, the world’s attention turns to the precariousness of life and the calamity of loss. 

We are moved by images of destruction...
Pledging aid...
Hugging our loved ones more tightly. 

The stories and pictures out of Morocco are heartbreaking, like those out of Maui, or any number of locations where disasters strike with deadly consequences. 

In the hustle and bustle of life, we sometimes forget that all can change in an instant. There is no guarantee of safety, but that does not mean we can’t do better. 

Loss can beget lessons, if we will heed them. We can learn to make our buildings more resilient, our disaster planning more robust, our assistance to others more plentiful. 

Hopefully, in an age of more numerous and ferocious climate crises, we can find the initiative to curtail the harm we are doing to the planet and bequeathing to future generations. 

But underlying all of our accumulated wisdom is a core truth: We are stronger when we work together. 

Our heart aches for those suffering in distant places we will never visit, because we share a common humanity. In the pain and terror of their eyes and voices, we can feel and hear echoes of our own. We often define ourselves by our differences, forgetting how much more we have in common. 

Over the course of the history of our species, we have spread to almost every corner of the globe. Time and distance have given us different languages, customs, cultures, religions, and countless other distinctions. They even have given us superficial differences of appearance. 

Sadly, far too often we have defined ourselves by the meaninglessness that makes us distinct rather than the depth that binds us.

In times of tragedy, we can be reminded, even if just fleetingly, of our connectedness. It touches us at a level deeper than words or even thoughts. We feel it. 

And if we can hold onto that feeling, we can make the world a little safer and more empathetic. 

Our hearts break for those in Morocco. We desperately hope more are pulled alive from the rubble. And may those who have lost so much find support in our global community. 

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