Sometimes there is a show that you watch and it affects you so much that you keep thinking of it for days on end. Now, the Discovery channel and National Geographic both have documentaries that are capable of mesmerizing the viewing audience to the point that one is afraid to change the channel during a commercial break. Normally, i will be flipping channels and then going back to what i was watching when the commercials are over. American commercials are most often sucky...except for the GEICO ones. Anyway, there was a programme on yesterday that captured my interest....Mind you, it was 2 hours long too.
It was about a volcano in Indonesia. Krakatoa...I hope i spelled that right. Anyway,the program recreated the events surrounding the eruption of the volcano in circa 1850 or so. Most of the recreation was based on the log of a captain out at sea and a dutch lady living there with her family.
i am pretty sure i am not the only one who was bothered watching this. in fact, there was a warning about the program containing disturbing images and events but as we all know, people buy their worries. So i watched it.
First there is a little boy who picks up a piece of volcanic rock and shows it to a geologist (i guess, i tuned in 15 minutes late) and the geologist begins studying the volcano and it's activity. So we go through a tsunami that wipes out a significant portion of the population at the time. The dutch lady survives because of her quick thinking and she is able to recount the incident in her diary. she hid herself and her kids in a cupboard upstairs in her house. then there is the ship's captain who remarkably saves his crew and his passengers from the wave by going more out to sea. Really, this was "holy sh*t" kinda material. You are watching it and that is what you say. the captain ties himself to the helm and he drops anchor to give the ship more stability and he is able to surf the biggest wave without having the ship capsize over.
after there is a big wave coming that knocks over the lighthouse with the keeper inside. the keeper's wife is saved and she is able to tell her story also. she was out looking for the family pet dog and she gets spared from the wave.
then finally the finale....the volcano erupts with a deafening roar and the pyroplastic flow rushes out towards land. it passes through the land killing everything and every person in its way. somehow, miraculously, the dutch lady, her husband and her two children survive along with a few other people. this was "holy holy sh*t" material. Unbelievable but yet i felt so happy for them. her baby died. in the end we learn that they went back to their homeland and she has another baby who she names after the one she lost on the island. By the way, she and her family suffered horrific burns during the flow.
I thought of this for a while. these people suffered a tsunami, a volcanic eruption and pyroplastic flow..It's a true story and it was told from a very personal point of view...the diary of this lady and the log book of the captain. by the way, the captain was awarded a medal for bravery by the dutch, i think.
i can only hope that this does not happen again. it is all i wish for. Not today. there are far more people and there will be far more suffering due to that fact. Not saying that the people then did not suffer as well but for my selfish sake, i do not wish to see it again. I cannot change the past or grieve for it but it is worse to see things happen in front of your eyes, especially other people's agony. it made me think of how very fragile this human body was and how time had a way of coming back full circle.
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