Positive Side of Merapi Eruption

#Published on http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/12/15/letter-positive-side-merapi-disaster.html #

The Merapi eruptions have added a new story on a tragic list in our nation. Many people have lost their families, close friends and relatives. They’ve also lost their homes, fields, livestock and means of livelihood. Their villages have been burnt by steam, as if there was no life before.

Their peaceful life change drastically. They had to leave their pleasant motherland to crowded, stifle, and boring evacuation posts. Students cannot study properly, although they soon should be facing final examinations. Elders and babies sleep on the floor. The Merapi eruptions have ruined their lives.

However, people should not lose hope. They may not see this disaster from a bad perspective only because there is much goodness that can be taken beyond this calamity. Merapi has not destroyed life, but it has also given new hope and spirit for the future.

Volcanic dust is one of the effects of the Merapi eruptions that endanger human health. It causes respiratory ailments. Many people have been sent to the hospital because they’ve neglected using face masks. Hot weather combined with traffic makes the condition worse. The dust spread out and polluted the air.

Moreover, it has fouled the environment. Trees have become grey and many have collapsed beneath the weight of the dust. Cars, motorcycles, houses, roads and every thing outside became dirty.

Nevertheless, the dust will build new civilization. It naturally fertilizes the land.

This will make plants grow and will help produce food. The sand, pebbles and stones can be mined and used as building materials. Big houses, hotels, hospitals, schools and many buildings can be built. This is all evidence that Merapi will build new civilization.

Beside the physical repercussions, Merapi also builds leadership and character. Mbah Maridjan suddenly became popular. From him we can learn how to be a true leader.

Mbah Maridjan is one of the good role models because our leaders today tend to be melancholy and emotional. We have long enough faced the facts of a crisis of leadership in this nation.

Merapi also builds the understanding that friendship does not always need intuition and wisdom only.

Citizens on the Merapi slopes may be close to Merapi. Merapi can be regarded as a friend who always provides kindness. However, knowledge of volcanology and climate change that influences the world should be understood too.

Like a friendship, we should know that sometimes our friend might want to scream, be angry and be left alone. In that situation it might not always be right if we approach. Sometimes the best way is keep distance for a while until their heart widens to accept us again. Moreover, Merapi builds our spiritual awareness of the universe and that its contents are controlled by God. The experts may predict anything about Merapi, but only God can determine how it will be. Is the eruption stopping now? Or it will explode terribly? Only God knows what will happen.

This disaster should be momentum for us to evaluate ourselves, so we can understand more about our quality as humans. We can make some betterment to change ourselves.

Lilin Praharani Cima
Yogyakarta