mourning

it's amazing how international news can feel like such a blip when it happens on the other side of the world. it's not, i promise.

today felt a bit like 9/11. where you wake up to an entirely different place than the one you went to sleep in. where in a relative instant hundreds died. and your country is different. and there is much mourning. and everywhere you go people are glued to the television. and everyone has a different look in their eyes than they did yesterday.

last night there was a stampede at the end of water festival. a human knot might be a more accurate, yet horrible description. many people packed on a bridge, overlooking the festivities in the water and on the shore below. so crowded. no air. people fainted. no one could move. panic. water cannons blown to get people moving. questions of electrocution from the glittering lights decorating the bridge. people jumping into the water, others clamoring on top of one another to get out. many suffocated. 378 dead at last count. as many injured. mostly young people. majority women. "the biggest tragedy since the pol pot regime."

there are candles with incense burning on every street, outside of every other house. the smell is wafting into my room as i write, people offering condolences to the spirits of the dead. the country is preparing for a day of mourning on thursday. people are going to bed tonight without husbands. without daughters. without mothers. without sons.

i know my God sees all things. is present in all places. i believe these things. i don't know what that means, and i'll never understand why these things happen. but i cling to this truth. and pray for these families, for comfort amidst their grief. and healing for those still struggling to survive in overcrowded hospitals around the city. please join me.