The news came from far away and for a moment swept us away like a tidal wave. Then it was just another statistical figure: 8.9 degrees on the Richter scale, 25 thousand victims, tens of thousands people injured and hundreds of thousands missing. The main question of our TV report was to know whether this gigantic earthquake will come our way or whether it will have a minor effect on our area.

Scientists gave a negative opinion and we relaxed, leaned back and lighted a cigarette. “What may I offer you?” the mistress of the house asked. “Whisky on the rocks, white wine, French cognac and a vodka with orange juice.” The men dealt the cards once more and went back to their stud poker game. The ladies went back to their own game and those who were not playing started talking about New Year’s Eve parties in Athenian nightclubs.

Catastrophe does not affect us because it’s very far away. We keep on celebrating, undisturbed, this great feast of Christianity: eating, drinking, buying clothes we don’t need and loads of toys for our kids, let alone the money we put aside for our card-playing habits. Our own Jesus Christ can only act as a chef, a bar tender or a croupier. In South Asia, the tidal waves were unleashed in a few seconds, rose as high as 50 meters and swept across towns and villages. Upon retreating, they killed hundreds of families. Everything was lost in the mud. Joys, hopes, dreams, it all became death, darkness and agony. Millions of homeless, naked and hungry, are waiting for some kind of help. Who will give it to them? Those who are to blame? Who is really to blame for the fact that the monsters of nature woke up?

About ten years ago, a professor in the Aristotelio University of Salonika, Greece, was speaking about a disaster during my own radio program in RIK. I remember his words. He said that mankind made so many thoughtless interventions in the balance of nature that, one day, nature will take its revenge, seeking to restore its lost balance. Therefore, some people are to blame for these natural calamities. Nuclear tests, atmospheric pollution caused by huge industrial units and by the governments themselves, waste disposed of in the earth, the sea and the air are among the sins humanity has to pay for. No wonder people in North America or central Europe are absolved from sin. The major experiments, the major tests are carried out far away, in former colonies and in newly-acquired colonies…

And yet the perpetrators don’t say a word. Only yesterday, large countries, with budgets of trillions of dollars, countries responsible for the greatest ecological disasters, such as the US, Canada, France, announced a ridiculous economic aid to the affected countries of South Asia. How can two, four and five millions of dollars be divided among four countries with millions of homeless and injured? Would it be so difficult for the US, Britain, France and Germany to mobilize their fleet and aviation and give a substantial helping hand? Would the cost be greater than that of the lives of millions of people lost every passing moment? If arms industries stood to gain from the death of every Hindu or Sri Lankan, then they would surely be mobilized. And yet there is no oil, no gold, no uranium in those quake stricken areas. There are only people there, the most worthless of all materials.

Despite all this, millions of homeless, naked and hungry, sunk into mud, are still expecting a helping hand. Are they expecting any help from us too? That’s mighty hard. Card-playing leaves few alternatives. We are egoists and greedy. Our kids are just like us. Still, in case there is a penny left, we could always contact the Cyprus Red Cross (tel: 22 666955) and make our personal contribution. Maybe Jesus Christ will be reborn in our hearts the way He really is and not as a croupier…

 http://www.cyprusmedianet.com/EN/article/31189