Who cares? (II)

ISLAMABAD: Sami Shah's article of August 19 pretty much speaks to so many of us; there is survivor’s guilt and the urge to do something for those far less privileged than all of us who are sitting in our comfortable dwellings browsing through the internet but there is also acute resentment and realisation that relief will not reach those who most deserve it — at least not through the channels monitored by our politicians. And so we see that everyone who is making an effort to help is doing it themselves, not trusting the establishment with as much as a penny. The paradox is that with a catastrophe so colossal, I’m not sure how long individual efforts will be able to sustain while at the same time entrusting funds with the government would mean that far less of what is being done now will be delivered through them.

Areebah Shahid

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2010.