New meaning to the question "Why?"

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Mourners in Sri Lanka used their bare hands to dig graves Tuesday while hungry islanders in Indonesia turned to looting in the aftermath of Asia's devastating tsunamis. Thousands more bodies were found in Indonesia, dramatically increasing the death toll across 11 nations to more than 52,000.

But the ministry said it had not yet counted deaths along the inundated and shattered towns of Sumatra's western coast, which soldiers and rescue workers were unable so far to reach — including the district of Meulaboh, where earlier the head of another agency estimated that 10,000 people were killed.

"Is this the fate that we had planned for? My darling, you were the only hope for me," cried one man for his dead girlfriend — his university sweetheart — as Buddhist monks held prayer nearby.

In Sri Lanka, more than 300 people crammed into the Infant Jesus Church at Orrs Hill, located on high ground from their ravaged fishing villages. Families and childres slept on pews and the cement floor.

"We had never seen the sea looking like that. It was like as if a calm sea had suddenly become a raging monster," said one woman, Haalima, recalling the giant wave that swept away her 5-year-old grandson, Adil.

Adil was making sandcastles with his younger sister, Reeze, while Haalima sat in her home Sunday morning. Haalima said the girl ran to her complaining that waves had crushed their castles, then came screams and water entered the home. "When we looked, there was no shore anymore and no Adil," she said.

Amid the devastation, however, were some miraculous stories of survival. In Malaysia, a 20-day-old baby was found alive on a floating mattress. She and her family were later reunited. A Hong Kong couple vacationing in Thailand clung to a mattress for six hours.

A blond two-year-old Swedish boy, Hannes Bergstroem, found sitting alone on a road in Thailand was reunited with his uncle, who saw the boy's picture on a Web site.


Rich and poor...the known and the unknown...all have been affected. The communal struggle continues as many lie in wait for aid to come. Thousands are still missing or unreachable. Nevertheless, many have been spared.

This puts your "whys" into perspective, doesn't it? Yes, this tragedy is doing the same for many other souls around the world. You who have chosen to unite yourselves with the remaining survivors at last see your own worries and concerns as nothing but a trifle compared to what your Southeast Asian brothers and sisters now have to face.

It is always good to be drawn out of yourself and reflect on the crosses of others. You will never again be selfish or ungrateful if in one way or another you attempt to help those who need more than you do.

Everyone has their stories of suffering and triumph. You have yours. They will have theirs. Just know that there will be more opportunities. Why? You said it yourself some time ago...you must plant thorns in order to get roses.

You're praying for miracles, little one, and they are being granted this very moment.

Trust and believe. The roses will bloom.