Saturday, March 8, 2014

MH370

Yesterday, while I was studying upstairs, my mom burst into the room (and with that everyone in my family was in the same room), to tell my dad that they've not found anything yet on the aircraft. And then my dad went on to nod seriously, and asked my mom whether she knew about the stolen passports of an Austrian and Italian.

All this while, my brother and I kept looking at them: Amma, Appa, back to Amma, then Appa... like it was an interesting ping-pong game. We had no idea what they were talking about. And then I asked my mom.

Flight MH370 with 239 passengers (including two infants), was supposed to transport its travelers from Kuala Lampur to Beijing. And then, on Saturday at 2:40 local time, Malaysian Airlines reported this flight missing. It was a Boeing B777-200 - one of the finest airplanes, with a low accident record.
Apparently Vietnamese air force spotted oil slicks - meaning that the aircraft could have crashed.
Also, an Austrian and Italian who were reported to be on the flight weren't. However, their passports were. They claim to have had their passports stolen in Thailand, with the Austrian having lost his two years ago. This report immediately fired worries and rumors of whether this was a terrorist attack.

After that, my brother and I spent quite some time following the news on BBC. The most prominent thing seems to be the lack of information. There have been a stream of pictures showing people in the Beijing and Kuala Lampur airports sick with worry, their faces etched with devastation, frustration and despair. No one knows what has happened and until something definite has been reported, we can only guess.
As I watched the dark backgrounds of the places from where the reporters were speaking, I suddenly lost track of where I was. I could have been in India, or Vietnam, or Ukraine.

This made me think of something else: the fact that, despite our differences, when it comes to tragedies like these, countries all over the world unite. Because, at the end of the day , we're not defined by our nationalities as much as we are by our personalities, and the core human values we all carry. There's something comforting in recognizing this. It reminded me of my English lesson: Bestseller (by O. Henry), which basically tells us that people around the world are all similar, beautifully put together in the phrase: life has no geographical boundaries.

We are united as humans in the best of times as well as the worst, and unfortunately, in this case, we are obviously leaning towards the second. People all around the world are praying, crying, and holding their breaths to find out what happened of their loved ones. I can only imagine how desperate the families in those airports might feel. But I have a message only for those in the aircraft: Hold on, wherever you are. I don't know how it's like to disappear, but you have the whole world looking for you, the whole world rooting for you, and the whole world caring about you.

2 comments:

  1. As you said life has no geographical boundaries and the fact that I don't know you, wonderful thoughts and wonderfully written this post is!!! Loved it. With you, I also convey the same message to those who are in the aircraft, in your same words only. God bless you!!!

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