Bali reflections ~do something~

~~Yes, it's a post somewhat removed from my regular musings. Take a look.~~

There's been yet another bombing in Bali. I'm not sure what my thoughts and feelings are yet. Those of you who've known me long enough will know that I spent my 30th birthday in Bali with my girlfriends. Every night, we partied at the Sari Club till about 4 or 5 in the morning. We met some fantastic people in the weeks that we were there. The whole experience was one of my most memorable and certainly one of my happiest. A few weeks later, the Sari Club (and Pady's) was gone.

That date is also the anniversary of the suicide bomb attack on the USS Cole.

Since then, there's also been the 2004 Jakarta embassy bombing.

I honestly believe it's only a matter of time before something occurs here. It would be naive of us to continue thinking we're untouchable. We're no longer living in a world where "everyone loves the Aussies". The fact is, our support of military action in Iraq et al, in particular, our support of the USA, makes us a prime target for those who oppose them. Whether we as individuals agree with the western military presence in Iraq, or not, as a country we've taken a position and there are those who will seek direct retribution for that.

As much as it concerns me (and it seems even a little surreal to be saying it), my opinion is that if any city in Australia were to be an initial target for terrorism, it would be Melbourne over Sydney. I'm not sure that's a concept I can even comprehend at the moment and it's something I hope I never have an opportunity to experience. However, I do contend it's probably a matter of when, rather than if.

Now....what to do? Being that I'm generally guilty of feeling bad, but not doing a great deal to be productive when major crises such as terrorist attacks like this occur, on impulse (literally as I've been typing this post) I've decided to try to do something for a change.

So....I've set my paypal button in my sidebar to a USD$5 donation. I'll keep it that way until at least 15 October 2005 (I'll review it depending on the response). I will give 100% of whatever money is collected to the Australian Red Cross who as yet have not launched an official appeal.

And now I ask for your help, either by donating yourself (which would be fantastic!), or by posting a link to this post on your blog, and asking others to do the same.

I've never done something like this before, so I'm not sure what the response is going to be. However, you never know if you don't at least try, right?

The Balinese people rely almost solely on travel and tourism for their livelihoods. I'd like to think I could help, even in a small way, to give something back to the people who helped me to have one of the happiest times of my life.

PLEASE NOTE: I don't intend for this post to start political debate on the pros and cons of anyone's presence in Iraq or similar. In fact, it's not for debate of any nature. This is simply my expression of feelings and hopefully a way of doing something constructive, however small, to help out. I'll delete any comments that I believe start, or attempt to start, a debate.

Thanks all!