Today was Australia’s national day of mourning for the MH17
crash victims. Many Australians were coming home on board the flight from the
Netherlands to Kuala Lumpur, and many others were coming to Melbourne for the 2014
International AIDS Conference. It is always a tragedy when there is a senseless
mass loss of lives, but the tragedy feels greater when it involves a whole
cohort who were working together to make the world a better, fairer and healthier
place.
As you grow older, you hopefully experience more of the
world, and that big bad outside world that seemed so huge when you were little
starts feeling a bit smaller. And conversely, the more people you meet –
friends, acquaintances, lovers, new family members – the bigger your world gets. In today’s age of
globalisation, mass media and technological interconnectedness, the rest of the
world is literally just a click away and the outside world and your world begin
to collide. And a finger pressed against a trigger a world away feels like it
hits you right at home.
In my own childhood, getting on an airplane was a rarefied privileged
experience – first when our family was being repatriated and I was leaving
Vietnam for good, and then as a dream to fly around the world. I didn’t fly overseas
again until I was in university, and any fears of disaster were overshadowed by
my youthful blindness to risk and my excitement for travel. As the years have
progressed, the fears slowly increased – perhaps I had more to lose each time.
And yet I keep on travelling - more to gain each time perhaps, and fears overshadowed by what's waiting at the destination – be it a new country or city to visit or live in, be it the
friends and family I can catch up again, be it reuniting with the love of my
life again, even just for a weekend.
In the hours before the news reports came in of MH17’s
crash, I had been saying goodbye and good luck to some friends and work
colleagues from APCOM, the HIV/AIDS organisation at which I am currently
working. They too were flying to Melbourne for the AIDS conference. Some were
flying direct, others through Singapore, and others through Kuala Lumpur. One colleague
was excited to catch up with activists from around the world, and to again savour in
the sights and sounds (and men) of Melbourne. Another was excited to
visit Australia for the first time (will I see a kangaroo he asks), but nervous
at presenting for the first time in front of a huge audience. He was still
there in the office, 2 hours before his flight, refining his speech and taking
in all our feedback. When he waved goodbye to us through the glass and hurried
onto the motorbike taxi, he had that same excitement and optimism we all have
when we travel, whether or not fear overcomes us.
When I think of the families and friends of the victims of
the crash, and how they must feel, I think of my feelings at the thought of
losing these friends and colleagues who I have only known for 4 months. It’s a
small fraction in comparison, and my heart aches at that calculation. Ironically, in times of sadness and hopelessness, I turn to one of my favourite scenes of all time, which happens to take place on a plane:
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