The Haze, the Planet, and the Human Heart

28 August 2026

Cannot avoid this.

Nature is exacting some damage all around the world, and when Nature fails, man seems determined to add to the misery. Such is the story of humanity and the Planet of late.

One can try to brush it all off as inevitability, or simply another part of the evolution of the Planet. Perhaps, at some psycho-spiritual level of the human psyche, one can even make an argument that everything we perceive is ultimately an illusion.

But when technology allows us to witness the vast expanse of the damage being done—and the human suffering transpiring all over this Planet—it would take a heartless, soulless individual to convince himself that none of it is really happening.

Yes, perhaps there is an ultimate reality beyond all this. Perhaps what we call life, death, suffering and existence is not quite what we imagine it to be.

Still, if we are truly interconnected with all living beings, then surely a human being must retain at least some simple sadness in his heart when another suffers.

And here I am in Penang, where the haze has reached a critical level, with schools being shut down because of the smoke drifting across from the burning in Indonesia.

Such is!

And now, watching the reports of Nepal and parts of Tibet being devastated by flash floods and mudslides, we are reminded once again just how fragile life really is—and how unforgiving Mother Nature can sometimes be.

It also makes me stop and consider how extraordinarily fortunate this country has been during my entire 78 years of life.

Malaysia has certainly experienced floods, landslides, earthquakes and other disasters, but compared with so many places around the world, we have been remarkably spared from the truly catastrophic events that have changed entire landscapes and generations of people's lives.

 

Of course, there was 1MDB.

Perhaps we should classify that as Malaysia's contribution to the category of man-made natural disasters.

Ha!

But seriously, perhaps the proper response is gratitude.

Not complacency.

Gratitude.

At 78, I have lived long enough to witness enormous changes in this world—technological, political, environmental and social. Today, through the miracle of technology, I can sit here in Penang and watch events unfolding thousands of kilometres away almost as they happen.

That is both a blessing and a burden.

We see more.

We know more.

And consequently, perhaps we are asked to feel more.

This post is also another small entry in the calendar of my life—a record of what was happening around me on 28 August 2026.

Who knows whether this blog will still exist years from now?

If it does, perhaps someone will stumble across these old pages and wonder what it was like to be alive on this particular day.

 

There was haze over Penang.

There were floods and mudslides in the Himalayas.

Nature was reminding humanity once again of its immense power.

And somewhere in Penang, an old man was sitting with Gaza on his mind, and thinking about it all.

Such is! Such Is!

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