Twisted Priorities

A letter to the editor of a Bay Area newspaper begins, "It is my belief that most of the people who drowned in the tsunami had never learned to swim, and the death toll would be less than half of what it is if they knew how to swim."

The stupidity of this allegation only serves to intensify the anguish, especially if you're the friend of a victim's family.

In my case, it's Luke Scully, the son of Rock Scully, former manager of the Grateful Dead, and stepson of Nicki Scully, a professional healer and spiritual adviser whom I first met in Egypt in 1978 when the Dead played the Pyramids. (Jerry Garcia's last-minute instructions were: "Remember, play in tune.") Happier times...

A credit-card transaction placed the missing Luke and his girlfriend Angie at a hotel in Phuket, Thailand, on Christmas Eve. All I could do was say my atheist prayers for them among 150,000 more anonymous others. Questioning the nature of God is one of the byproducts of this inconceivable tragedy. Star Jones said on The View that she would have been there if not for God's blessing. Jon Stewart responded on The Daily Show that it wasn't God's blessing, it was God's oversight. Ê

Luke and Angie were, in effect, murdered by twisted priorities. For example, the Thai newspaper The Nation first reported a crisis meeting attended by Thailand's foremost meteorological experts, who decided not to issue a warning about the tsunami an hour before the first massive wave struck, "out of courtesy to the tourist industry." That's the kind of courtesy that can literally kill you.

"We finally decided not to do anything," explained one of the meteorological experts, "because the tourist season was in full swing. What if we issued a warning?and nothing had happened? The tourist industry would be hurt. Our department would not be able to endure a lawsuit."

In Thailand alone, where the tourist industry rakes in almost $8 billion a year, more than 5000 people died at prime beach resorts-about half of them tourists-and another 3500 are still missing.

Tourists weren't the only victims of human decision. Pakistan's Daily Times reports a Canadian expert's claim that the U.S. military was given advance warning of the tsunami. Although America's Navy base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean was notified (the base was directly in the path of the tidal wave but reported "no damage"), the warning was not passed on to those countries bearing the brunt of the disaster.

The good news is a worldwide outpouring of aid, even as America wastes billions occupying Iraq. Suppose the Indian Ocean tsunami had somehow managed to reach the Persian Gulf and destroy Iraq's coast. Would a mutual cease-fire then be declared, so that help-food, water, healthcare-could take place without disruption by those pesky insurgents? Would Iraq finally be rebuilt?

Meanwhile, the Luke and Angie Fund has been founded by their families to assist reconstruction in Thailand.