A boy and his dog

There once was a little boy who owned a dog. Now this little boy was very fond of his dog because the dog was a very smart dog, and he would do useful things, like bring in the newspapers and help him catch peasants. You could say he was a helpful kind of dog, and a very pretty one at that, too.

However, the little boy knew that keeping a dog was no easy task and that discipline was key. Also, when you have a very pretty dog, people will covet it and try to take it away from you. This led him to be quite protective of his dog, and he made sure that he knew all the dog's friends. Really though, he preferred if they would all just stay away and leave the two of them alone. So, the little boy mostly kept his dog in a kennel behind his house, where he could keep an eye on it because, as we are all aware, bad influences can come from anywhere at anytime.

One day, there was a heavy thunderstorm, and when the rain had stopped, the little boy found that a large tree had toppled on to the kennel and the dog was trapped underneath. The little boy was distraught.

'Whatever shall I do?' he asked himself.
'If I ask someone to come and help, my dog will know about the outside world where there is no discipline, and he might become a bad dog and not listen to me anymore. Or worse, someone will steal him from right under my nose.'

He thought of how he could help the dog himself, but being just a little boy, he did not know anything about saving dogs. And as he pondered all these things in his head, the dog's breaths were becoming more ragged...
and wheezier...
and wheezier.

A few passers-by heard about this dog who was pinned under a tree, and they felt very sorry for it. They thought that the little boy was quite silly indeed as the poor dog was near-death, so they offered to come in and help. In fact, it so happened that one of the passers-by was a vet! The little boy, tears welling in his eyes, was still so very sure that his dog would be badly-influenced.

"Pass me your medicine kit," he told the vet. "I don't trust you. And I can handle it myself."

So he did.
But even with the gauzes and the medicines, the little boy was still overwhelmed and it seemed like he would need the vet's help in the end. But he was also so very sure that the vet really wanted to take his dog away from him. And, what would the little boy say to the passers-by and his dog if he found out his fears had no basis?


What do you think the end of the story is? Honestly, I don't know either.
I've attempted a simple analogy from my readings in the past 4 days. Work has begun and one of the largest natural disasters since the tsunami has just struck. And could it have hit a less open country? I doubt so.

Cyclone Nargis is, as of today, estimated to claim 100,000 lives and leave over 1 million homeless. This is before taking into account losses from disease and famine (the area struck was once called Asia's ricebowl). And if not death, then think of the remnants of these largely agricultural lives. Most of their homes are still underwater.

All we can do at this point is hope that the Myanmar government will allow international aid to enter the country. The longer they delay it, the more people will suffer from hunger and disease. And help is literally just waiting at their doorstep.

Politics is possibly the most exasperating thing about our world.