Pakistan floods, interesting quote.

[flobadob]

On the news today about the floods in Pakistan I heard a woman say something which I found interesting and quite amusing in a dark sort of way. Her home had been washed away and she was on saying "It took years for God to give us our house, now the floods have taken it away".

What The Funicular? Surely their house was built by local people and was destroyed by natural disaster. Can she really think that?

[birdie1971]

Answerprancer – If Pakistan has a limited infrastructure with which to deal with this kind of (predictable) natural disaster, who's fault is that?

There were a myriad of civil engineering projects that would have been relatively inexpensive to implement which would have radically reduced the human cost of these floods and yet nothing whatsoever was done by this Pakistan Government or by previous ones.

If you're looking for someone to be angry at, look first at God (if you believe in such an absurd concept) and then at the Pakistan Government. But don't get hysterical because some people don't share your concerns.

[lindapinda]

Excellent answer birdie...i always am amazed that countries that can spend billions on the "higher echelons" of society and arms and nuclear weapons,can not be universally shamed into protecting their own "lower society members"

[Answerprancer]

Birdie.
Point taken vis a vis my interpretation of '3rd world country/developing nation'.
Although I was unaware of the *political* wealth of Pakistan, I still believe that the general populus there is in a far more precarious situation than places like Worcester.

If I misunderstand something it is never willful - I saw this post as deliberately and WILLFULLY making light of something and I still do.

Maybe the country *is* ruled by an elite - my concerns were for the people and Flobadob was making light of the way one of these people expressed her way of coping IMO.

[lindapinda]

Your heart was in the best place Ansp...like mine was once,but..when you learn how the poor how sold out by their own governments,and the result is death..i will always blame the rich governments for not doing so much more!...

[lindapinda]

*are

[birdie1971]

Fair enough Answerprancer . I agree with you that the floods in Pakistan are an order of magnitude worse than those experienced in Worcester. That being said, if you lose you home in a flood, the financial and psychological impact is the same no matter where you happen to live.

I have every sympathy for the people affected by these floods in Pakistan. I've been looking at some videos and photographs and it's truly horrendous.

The Pakistan Government should have done more to help prevent this and they failed completely in their duty to protect their citizens.

[birdie1971]

Lindapinda - Those in power serve only themselves. Always have and always will. You and I are merely numbers on a list. Sad but true.

[lindapinda]

Exactly :-(

[mibn2cweus]

It is a mistake to believe that those who govern are any wiser, more concerned with or better able to tend to your well being than you are. The proper role of government is not to protect people from themselves but to uphold and defend the rights and essential freedoms of individuals required to live responsibly. Those who seek to relegate personal responsibility to either a God or government are inevitably bound to become victims of their own neglect. No one can protect and save anyone for all potential calamities but it is those individuals who have acquired independence who are best equipped and most knowledgeable regarding those who most deserve their help and how best to help them.

[boxtops]

To get back to earlier comments and the woman's quote - yes, I can fully understand this. Devout Muslims believe that God will give (the house) but you have to work for it and earn it, but it's within his remit to take it away again by initiating natural disasters. Which, to her, he has.

[naomi24]

Flobadob, as astonishing as it is, yes I think she really can think like that.

Boxtops, I wonder if she does hold him responsible for initiating the flood? Somehow I doubt it. It seems he's always responsible for the good, but rarely for the bad - and when there is no alternative but to put the responsibility squarely on his shoulders, he is excused because he works in mysterious ways and although we don't understand it, we must accept that it's for our own good because he knows best. What nonsense it all is!

[tamborine]

the local mosques are rattling their tins via the curry takeaways.....hope my extra tips get to the disaster appeal :(

[sandyRoe]

"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord"
It's not just unenlightened foreigners who believe that their god has a hand in their fortune. The above line is from the bible.

[naomi24]

Sandy, that's absolutely true - but it doesn't make it any less sad.

[tamborine]

Wot about the USA/Russia Fires; Poland/German floods ?

[mightyWBA]

I'm not in the least bit religious but I watched a programme about the Tsunami that struck Banda Aceh,Indonesia on C4 the other night.
One woman lost all 20 members of her family,her home and everything.When asked what she thought of God for allowing this to happen she simply replied it was his will and he had set her a challenge.
Some peoples faith is unbreakable,whatever you think about the rights and wrongs of this attitude it certainly helps many people.
http://www.islamaware.../Miracles/mosque3.jpg

[naomi24]

Yes, I've seen a similar interview, WBA, and I've spoken to victims personally who have said the same.

By the way, the picture simply demonstrates that the mosque was more sturdily built than the homes around it.

[beso]

No doubt there will be the Islamic equivalent of the Westboro Baptists who will say that the victims were punished for disobeying Allah.

[boxtops]

There is a certainty fatality in putting all your trust in God - it means that everything that happens has to be for a reason, and if you get caught up in it, well, God must haev a reason for doing this at this particular time, and who are we to know (or even to attempt to ask) what that is?

[rojash]

I think AOG and AYG are having a competition to see who can claim to be the most obnoxiously ignorant.