degrees of separation
The news is all about the horrible earthquake in Morocco. Two thousand have died already; that's a huge number. The devastation is extreme and I can barely keep paying attention. But it's not because I don't care.For most of us, it's somewhat abstract; we don't know anyone in Marrakech, and we might not even know this one song that happened to make it famous what, about sixty years ago. How often do you meet someone from Marrakech? Or even Morocco?
But it so happens that I, as an ESL teacher for thirty years, do know someone from Marrakech, and have remained friends with him to this day. He marked himself safe on Facebook, so I know he's still around, but after that, I can only imagine. I know that earthquakes are next to floods and hurricanes for being horrible, life-altering experiences. His town will never be the same.
On his Facebook site he had called himself "Mr. Marrakech." He was known to go to hotel conferences in Europe (he worked for a hotel in Marrakech, probably) and to represent Marrakech, trying to get European business for his hotel; there he would expound on the beautiful life in Morocco. In fact, judging from his Facebook, life was beautiful. They had everything: the sea, the climate, the good food, the lively culture, the fantastic history...
Except that now, it's all reduced to rubble, and there are people everywhere who have lost everything. My heart goes out to him and to Moroccans everywhere. Be strong. It's a terrible thing, but it will pass, and life will go on. We the world are with you.
posted by tom @ 7:50 PM
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