Friends,
Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude quake in coastal region of Ecuador has
put me in an introspective mood –as some of you are aware, I’m Ecuadorian. With
a death toll over 570 people, 7,000 injured and 25,000 living in shelters, this
is the worst disaster the country has seen in generations. The way the news
broke in my household was surreal (a WhatsApp message to a guest whose family
lives near the epicenter), so were the photos coming-in. A building where it
appears a giant baby has whimsically smashed the top half onto the bottom, so
it sits precariously perched at an odd angle with half of a crumbling middle
floor missing. A crackled asphalt road with a five foot gash where a maroon car
is impossibly lodged looks like something Salvador Dalí might have painted. A
survivor being pulled through an impossibly small hole in the concrete and
rebar. When relegated to remote corners of the world like Nepal, Turkey or
Haiti, similar images struck me at an intellectual level –I empathized and felt
bad for THEM. Now, even though my mountain hometown was spared, it feels
personal. There’s a sense of helplessness mixed with the desire to be there in
person to help (not just google “Ecuador disaster relief” and pick an NGO). There’s
also a realization that life is short and disaster can strike anyone, anywhere
at any time. Armed with that knowledge, you should grab a donut –courtesy of
Ashley Button. Unfortunately, my week-long pilgrimage through Windstreamland precludes
me from being there to partake of this bounty with you –which means there’s
more for you. Happy Friday!
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