I suddenly embarked on this mission to read all the correspondents' comments and analysis (not news coverage) of the Tsunami disaster on The Times Online. 2 correspondents and 4 essays later, I was... I don't know. I can't find a word to describe that feeling. Maybe shocked, maybe horrified, maybe humbled, maybe even strangely enthralled.


It's humbling, isn't it, when the forces of nature suddenly turn against human beings, wreck their lives, kill those they love, destroy their property, remove their shelter, smash the best laid plans of mice and men, and basically just take everything away from them.


We put ourselves at the centre of our universe, perhaps because of all humankind has achieved thus far. We banish disease, seed the clouds for rain, and even learn to clone ourselves, but really, aren't we all at the mercy of the gods, and the supreme beings of the universe? This tragedy, this inudation of thousands, has brought, rightfully, mankind to its knees, and shrink us from our mastery, hasn't it?