But if you live under a rock or get all your news from The Student (we'd like that) and simply only know what's happening on campus, you would be blissfully unaware of this most recent natural disaster that has rocked the world. The aftermath and the circumstances of the recovery process are in a state of affairs that we think is unacceptable, and even though donations are lagging internationally, we feel like Amherst should be held to a higher standard.
It's hard to criticize the College for lacking in aid and fund raising after the far-reaching and successful Hurricane Katrina efforts, and we understand that members of the student body may have given much of their available time, energy and money to that very worthy cause, but we don't understand why the earthquake in Pakistan and India has been ignored. We haven't received a single letter to the editor; we haven't heard of a single fund raiser or even a discussion panel.
We came up with a few explanations for this general lack of interest and effort. Perhaps it's the size of the College-we're spread thin as it is. Perhaps it's that this disaster seems small and far away after New Orleans-the pain and suffering isn't as real to us. Perhaps it's simply that the American media has paid more attention to Katrina relief and the Supreme Court hearings than to this international disaster. Perhaps we just think that it's someone else's job to provide relief this time around.
But even if all of these hypotheses hold true, we just can't accept the silence and non-effort on the part of the students of Amherst. We have students from all over the world at the College and students from all over America who have family all over the world; was no one here affected? We find that hard to believe, and we encourage those students to speak out.
At the same time, not knowing someone who suffered personally is no excuse, and neither is the magnitude of the disaster-a higher or lower death toll shouldn't be the issue. It's impossible to quantify tragedy.
We know that we can't take up every cause with the same fervor and coordination that we displayed with Katrina relief. At the same time, we shouldn't content ourselves with making an all-or-nothing effort. We think there's a middle ground, and we're bothered that no one sought to find it this time around-but it's not too late. There are still millions of people who are homeless in South Asia, and we can still help them in a number of ways. We'd like to see students spearheading some sort of effort, be it informational or fund raising, in order to raise awareness and help just a little.