Posted: 05/19/2015
Trungram
Gyaltrul Rinpoche, PhD
Sometimes it seems like when you are trying to do
the most good, you face the most difficulties.
Last Friday, Nepal had a third earthquake. This one
registered 5.7 magnitude. After the first 7.8 mw earthquake,
our volunteers, including monks and nuns
from my monastery just outside Kathmandu, visited remote villages,
bringing medical aid, food and comfort to the newly homeless. They
were preparing to go out again when thesecond big earthquake
came. It destroyed many more roads and houses; it also triggered
avalanches that wiped Langtang Village off the face of the earth.
That scared a lot of volunteers and aid workers, for good reason,
and slowed down their efforts.
Now the third earthquake
has made matters even worse. It renewed fears of real danger. And
it has made transportation even harder. Think of the rugged
topography and the complete lack of road system; delivering
supplies to the more remote (and ignored) areas requires porting
everything on your back. People find these natural obstacles
discouraging.
We are also facing practical human obstacles. We put a lot of
effort into giving aid directly to the people who need it. We look
at maps to see where the major relief organizations are working,
and go to the smaller, more remote locations that they miss. But
sometimes we need help in order to give help. And sometimes the
people who help us might ask a favor in return. If we ignore them,
not only will they not help us, they can become an obstacle. Yet,
if we give in to their request, it can skew our entire
purpose.
In fact, many people who have just been saved from
the disaster are already thinking about it as a great business
opportunity. There is nothing wrong with making money, but for me
it is hard to imagine shifting from a mindset of helping disaster
victims to a mindset of profiting from the situation. I wish more
people were thinking about the relief of others. I wish they would
stay focused on the goal.
Finally, we face the issue of attention. The world
we live in has a short attention span. Even though Nepal has
suffered such great loss and devastation, there are other things
happening in the news. Media attention shifts quickly. People move
on. It seems like a lot of people have to die to get the attention
of the world. That's heartbreaking. They need people to speak for
them; otherwise it is very easy to be neglected by international
communities -- and therefore also by local governments.
With all these obstacles, sometimes even the
volunteers get discouraged. They say "Let's just give things to
some local organization and let them handle it." But if we do that,
then we don't know how much aid actually gets to the people who
need help the most.
I understand this is not an easy job. It requires courage,
persistence and stubbornness -- in a good way. The kind of
stubbornness that keeps you from getting discouraged. You also have
to be flexible, to adapt your plans as the situation changes. This
balance is critical -- and you can't maintain it without courage.
Above all, you need compassion. It is not a question of east or
west. You can be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or a
non-believer -- it doesn't matter. We should know that humanity is
beyond religion and without political borders; it is the place
where everyone meets.