Editorial December 4, 1989 Issue

Responding to urgent human need

Michael D. Rissler

Until you've been through one, it's impossible to understand fully what a hurricane is. Sadly, the same can be said of an earthquake, of course, when we think of our neighbors in San Francisco, China, Soviet Armenia, and Mexico City, all of whom have experienced devastating earthquakes.

There's something ironically reorienting, however, about the experience. The routine of ordinary life—even at its busiest peaks—fades to insignificance as more fundamental things take center stage.

Care for family and home, readiness to help neighbors and strangers, and the most compelling empathy for people in disaster-swept or war-ravaged communities clearly become the most important concerns. It is during such lucid moments that we begin to realize that life can be lived in far different ways from those we might ordinarily consider.

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