The aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Asia has caught many of the world leaders by surprise. I don't mean they're shocked at the magnitude of the number of killed or injured, or the clean-up effort required. That has dazzled us all. I am referring to the outpouring of generosity being experienced the world over. One newsreader last night described it as "Australians emptying their pockets" to donate $100 million for the relief effort. It is an unparalelled sum in the history of charitable fundraising in this country.
And though I'm not being handed fistfuls of cash, I am experiencing the kindness of strangers almost every day so far this week. I've had offers of free accommodation for my travels in Hong Kong, the UK and France; offers of job assistance when I'm away; and gifts of travel goods to make my life on the road a little more comfortable.
Several months ago, I read a book called The Kindness of Strangers in which world travellers wrote short stories about strangers that had intervened in their travels at crucial times of distress, and virtually rescued them. The book features a foreword by the Dalai Lama, that sought to summarise the moral of the story; namely, that not everyone is a bastard (this is not a direct quote).
The events of this past week convince me that the Dalai Lama might have been onto something after all.
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