While we may marvel over the wonderful news of “no casualties” in the Aug 2 crash of an Air France airliner at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, I am very dismayed over some of the reactions being broadcast in the media.
One passenger who survived complained over the “ineptitude” of the flight crew and their “disorganized manner” in which they tried to disembark everyone. I suggest that this gentleman needs to count his blessings that he was able to get out to begin with and not start blaming people because he was a little bit inconvenienced in the manner in which he was told to get out of a burning airplane.
Another person who had his flight cancelled in Vancouver because of the accident complained that his “flight was cancelled” and was not getting any help from anyone. Excuse me, sir, but do you even understand what has happened?
These reactions hearken back to some other strange reactions made shortly after recent disasters and tragedies. After September 11, 2001, there were dozens of people who claimed they had lost a loved one in the WTCs, but further investigation revealed that these individuals were just fraudulently trying to get their fingers on the “sympathy money” the USA was providing to genuine recipients. As well, several people I know were complaining about the news coverage of 9/11 and were very upset that they were “missing their soaps”. In another instance of grave blindness to the scope of the tragedy: I was working at a local computer manufacturer at the time, and of course with the grounding of all flights, shipments came to a standstill. One irate customer in Edmonton called the office demanding that we send over his order immediately, stating “I don’t care what happened in New York, I want my shipment now!”
If that doesn’t take the cake, the epitome of selfishness and insensitivity came when I was with a fellow adult Christian on the day of the Columbia Disaster (February 1, 2003), who’s reaction to the disaster was: “Yeah, their bodies burned up in the atmosphere. Ewww, that’s so gross!”
In an age where the masses cry out for justice, peace and harmony, even fellow Christians manage to trump that hand with commentaries beyond callous indifference. Sad.