When the toll reach the thousands, then the ten thousands, then the hundred thousands it becomes completely indigestible, incomprehensible, inaccessible, impossible. And all we can see is the number itself and not what it represents.
As of today, May 16:
- toll in Myanmar - official report: 78,000; estimation of real death toll: 200,000
- toll in China: at least 22,000
The size of my alma mater: roughly 3200~3300 students altogether from undergraduates to graduate and part time GLSPs. That plus a faculty of 300, and if roughly including other staff would amount to a population of 4000. This means that the toll in its low equals 25 Wesleyan, and its real estimation that of 55.5 Wesleyan.
The capacity of one subway car in New York is roughly 245 people. This makes the low equivalent: 410 cars, and its estimation: 910 cars.
One subway train usually consists of 8 cars, meaning low: 51 trains, and estimate: 113 trains.
I'm counting the train lines that go through manhattan. 23 I think, including the S. Meaning the toll would amount to wiping out 2 trains on each line in the low, and almost 5 on each line "die" according to the estimated toll.
And while doing all this math I am rounding up the numbers. Rounding up Death! total absurdity. and i am nowhere nearer to understanding a fraction of the misery on the other side of the world...
Confronted with the world's misery through mass media I'm not ready to deny that personal struggle and pain in our ordinary daily life does not mean anything. But at the back of my head floats an image of my dad walking around the house humming a line from Trinh Cong Son, Nguoi gian nan mo uoc binh thuong - The unfortunate dream of the norm.
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