The recent great earthquake that struck Chile this past 27th of February did not only turn towns, walls and houses down, it also shook our hearts. The images of destruction, fear, deep desolation and helplessness were all around, even in those places where no physical or structural damage was visible.
The earthquake shook our hearts and souls. All of a sudden people felt helpless, small, full of fear; fear for their lives, the lives of their loved ones, fear of losing the fruit of their work, their homes and everything they held most dear. Some remembered friends and relationships that have been neglected for a long time, some others had regrets and realised they were not ready to go just yet. But also, it made neighbours that had never exchanged a word; finally speak, help and support each other, it reminded us that we are all human beings, that we are not that different from each other, that we all share the same land and the same planet, what happened in Haiti no longer seemed so distant.
Soon enough, the only important thing was to be alive and well, love and be loved, material things lost their value, it was all about being grateful for being alive.
I was lucky enough to participate in an amazing event, the Telethon in aid of those who suffered the most and I can clearly say I saw many “angels” in action that day. The whole country got together for over 24 hours, putting all their efforts give as much as they could give, money, food, clothes but many others just got themselves to the most affected areas and started chatting to the people, offering a hand and a shoulder. Surely we all agree that it would be nice not to have to go through all of this for people to be nicer to each other, but I guess most people are still hanging from Drama, which sometimes proves to be necessary for a major change.
It has been one month since the earthquake, and even though in the streets of big cities like Santiago it looks as if nothing had ever happened, there are still many people in need out there, the country still gets back into awareness with the -still- constant after shakes, we simply can’t forget this.
After this earthquake, personally; I have started to check what was left broken inside of me, or which are the walls that broke down giving me the oportunity to build something new. To all of you, residents of Planet Earth, I invite you to do this exercise, you may not live in Chile but hey, Earth is still Shaking!
Until the next time!
