A Letter...

On January 6, a gentleman from my county sent the following letter to the editor of the local newspaper. The letter is as follows. My response, which has not yet been printed (as I write, only one day has past since the printing of the initial letter), will be published in the following post.

Explaining disasters
EDITOR: Homo sapiens, I think not. How can we call ourselves the wise or thinking man when we respond to the recent earthquake and tsunami in such an irrational way. Here we have an earthquake explained and understood by current geology -- an ocean wave we know to be a result of such shifts of the Earth's surface. We know that if large numbers of humans are living in the zone that will be affected by the quake and wave, many will die and many will survive. Humans have worked hard to develop these understandings. Yet, when the chips are down, we too often explain disasters through superstition and myth. Survival is explained by a beneficent supernatural being who turns his/her back on less deserving and perhaps is even punishing some.We are a caring creature, and I applaud any and all help we can give to those harmed by this calamity. I simply wish that we had used our rational capacity to create early warning and emergency systems rather than spending so much of our time and energy on an outdated world view.
-Jerry Rudy