In the midst of tragedy,

On Saturday, I met with Tony, my good American friend here. He has a lovely place just on the northern edges of Bangkok. Sadly, his house became just yet another victim of the floods. I say - "Just another victim" - but it was so sad to see him so upset and to hear of his loss. His loss is real and it is just heart breaking. So just another loss is another real story added to the already millions of stories of this great tragedy that is the Thai floods of 2011.

We got talking. It is obvious that these floods have their own story. Is it climate change at work? In part, it is but like everything else here, there is much more at work. The waters also are a result of poor management of the country's water resources. Basically, they are emptying two huge dams which have become too full. They should have done this weeks ago but left this task until when the big rains came and so the floods just became huge. It is just shocking to hear the tale as this tragedy could have been lessened or avoided to a big extent.

It all makes you think. It makes you go beyond individual suffering to asking the big questions.