halfknot

I can only address this in my own simple way, and not to the point:

Some blamed bird flu and took their weakened children to a clinic in a nearby provincial city, where a medic diagnosed human influenza instead. But other residents said it was witchcraft by the only village resident not born here, 53-year-old Som Sorn, who moved here eight years ago when she married an elderly local farmer.

When Mrs. Som Sorn's husband went into the jungle to cut wood one afternoon and she began cooking rice over a fire on the dirt floor of her hut, a local man with a machete took action and later collected $30 in donations from grateful neighbors, a month's wages.

It makes sense. Not the individual behaviors, but that this is what would happen to Cambodia after the killing fields. When 30% of the Cambodian people are wiped out, and that being the portion of doctors, scientists, monks, and inevitably anyone showing any sort of education or even compassion, what would you expect the country to be like 30 years later? dSF was telling me that when he was in Cambodia a few months ago, he did not meet a single monk that was older than he was. And now, the Khmer Rouge could have world-wide effects depending upon how and when the avian flu epidemic turns pandemic.

We've got problems. This isn't just Cambodia's problem. It's the way of nature that the innocent to come must inevitably pay the consequences of their ancestors. But it's unjust, despite any claims to the fault of lineage. There's no sense blaming and there's no easy fixing. No matter how much the world gets flooded with knowledge, there will always be disaffection, bitterness, destructiveness and even vehement oppression. I know that floods happen, disease happens, societies crumble... knowledge isn't the solution to everything in a world of limited resources; it ain't simple. I don't want to digress on the intricacies of this point though, just to illustrate that we are all connected. All space, all time. Everywhere, all the time. So don't forget to think back in the future and see why you are where you are. Or better yet, don't forget to look forward now and see how you can try to get where you want to be. Flu or no flu.

Besa Korn, a 51-year-old village resident who was not among those making donations to the killer, said the true cause of the summer illnesses might never be known. But life has clearly improved since Mrs. Som Sorn's death, she added.

"Everyone in the village has been very happy since then," she said. "And we have had no more illness."

Maybe I look at things this way because of my own heritage. Maybe it would be good to look back to Germany and how it was able to recover and become a strong nation again despite the horrors of its past.

Or crumble in the face of it all and just ride out the party while it lasts - go out in style. Pop the champagne, BANG! Who likes to whimper anyway?

But I'm off the sauce remember? So none for me, thanks.