Day 5

Waking up to CNN's Anderson Cooper's coverage of Typhoon Haiyan's aftermath in Tacloban  has paved the way for gloomy thoughts to come.

Today's rain seems a fitting backdrop, too, highlighting patterns of grays and blues, and grays again. I have been told to stop following the news, but an inner voice is telling me that isn't the way to go. That I have been spared by this catastrophe should be reason enough to be in accord with what is going on. My sense of decency tells me that anything in proximity to celebration (the sumptuous lunch we just had, the weekend party we've been planning), luxury (that expensive gadget we've been wanting for months now), and pettiness (the headaches and traffic we normally complain about) have absolutely no place in the middle of all the grief, desperation, and destruction that the people in affected places are currently going through.

photo from www.nationalreview.com

But let me stop there before this turns into a lugubrious and preachy post, if it isn't already one.

Aid continues to come from all over the globe. People are braving the backwash of the storm, setting aside differences and comfort and safety in order to rebuild. The days and nights to come will be long and dreary (as they have already been), but so long as there are people like the ones out there who are lending out hand and limb and heart, the sun will shine again.