Burma.

Please tell me you have heard about what Cyclone Nargis has done to the southeastern nation of Burma.  You might have heard it called "Mynamar' as well.  You might have heard it called a lot of things in the last week, because the overall sentiment towards the people that run this nation is nothing short of mystifying.  

If you have not heard, go to news.google.com and type in "Mynamar".  Actually, you should not have to do that, because there will probably be a story on the front page, somewhere.  The amazing thing is that Mynamar is still near the top of the news tickers, because the disaster happened a week ago.  At the same time, it is fascinating that this situation does not continue to be the top story around the clock because of the level of devastation that has occurred there and the outrageous response of the government that runs the country. 

Just imagine, if you can, a storm hits your neighborhood.  That should not be too hard.  But go even further and try to picture trees flying through the air.  Try to get your mind around so much flooding that your house is completely underwater.  I went on a relief trip to New Orleans just two weeks after Hurricane Katrina nearly buried that beautiful city completely.  I saw cars that were half covered in lakes, I saw where boats had made their way into people's front yards and into the front columns of their modest ranch style houses.  I drove through the streets and witnessed the black art of the national guard that was displayed on every door:  the date that the house had been searched and the number of bodies that had been found inside.  I watched as we unloaded entire homes of every possession that these sweet people had procured through a generation of blood and sweat in the daily venture we call "life."  I have seen it, as have many of you.  Now take for a moment that image, that scene of despair and hopelessness, and magnify it as big as you can.  To understand what is going on in Burma at the moment, I just don't think we can get our heads around the problem there. No matter how many layers of the onion we peel back, we are likely to only find more, bigger, smellier problems than we could have ever imagined. 

You might remember that Burma was in the news back in September.  As a refresher, Burma has been ruled for the last 45 years or so by a military junta.  "What is a military junta?" you may be asking yourself.  Well, to put it in simple terms, it is basically a non-civilian run organization that has a lot of guns.  To put it bluntly, this is a government that will resort to anything to retain its stranglehold on it's people.  If you are wondering if this is pure rhetoric or drama, then please search for articles detailing how the International Labour Organization is seeking to bring officials of the junta to justice for international crimes because of their forced labor policies, policies that they have been imploring for years without accountability or check.  This little bit that I am giving you is just a taste.  You really should look it up because it is simply awful.  This is why, by the way, that you hear so many people calling the country "Burma" and not "Mynamar".  This is a protest against the military junta for changing the name without any public vote back in 1989.  It was a symbolic display of the government's power and self-will and the refusal to submit to it is also powerfully symbolic.  

So the top officials in Burma are saying this week that the body count from the cyclone is probably around 22,000.  This is, of course, an outrageous amount of human life to be lost.  Meanwhile, an American diplomat working in the region is reporting that the death toll could eclipse 100,000.  Both figures are nothing short of astounding.  And we, the private citizens that make the world run, are largely ignoring the problem.  

I just want to make one last point about all of this, perhaps the leading point that has brought me to writing about it in the first place.  It is this:  the military junta that runs the nation has not allowed foreign aid into the country.  The government there was kind enough to release 250,ooo dollars in emergency funds to help alleviate the damage that was caused. That was on Monday. Does anyone think that 250,000 bones is going to dig an inch into the wasteland that much of this country has become? 

Meanwhile, enough food to feed about 98,000 survivors was delivered by the UN's World Food Organization.  What did Burma's illegal government do?  They seized it and refused to allow the UN to distribute the food.  All of those pallets of desperately needed supplies are currently sitting on an airport's tarmac.  That is a tragedy.  Even our government, over extended and under funded in relief aid money at home and abroad, has worked to provide a compromise that would get help to the people that are dying in the most remote areas.  Think about it, the United States, perhaps currently the most arrogant and short sighted government in the world at the moment, was willing to fly her helicopters over these regions and not even touch down.  They would simply drop the supplies and leave.  That is all they were asking.  They weren't asking for banners that said "Mission Accomplished" on the ground and ambassadors shaking hands with military officials.  They just want to help.  When he United States wants to just help in this day and age, you have to figure that things are pretty bad.  I realize now that this is probably going to upset someone, but I'm not going to worry about that right now.  I'm going to tell you the truth.  

This is the situation that we are dealing with.  Literally, with the Burmese leaders refusing to allow the flow of aid to come into their country, they are effectively murdering their own people.  And most of us don't know anything about it.  Imagine if 22,000 people died in one week in the United States.  Try to get your head around that.  

There is so much more to say.  I could talk about the bitter reality that a Red Cross ship that was trying to provide aid sank today off shore.  Sinking with it were the life-saving supplies that could have benefited thousands. I could talk more about the atrocities of their illegal government and how they have crippled their own people.  I could do that, but for now I am going to get some rest and then I am going to talk more about this problem and what, God willing, we can do to help it.  We have to, because whether you accept it or not, we are our brother's keeper.  We are responsible.  We have to find a way. 

Goodnight.  

Tatum.