Mad World.

It seems Australia and New Zealand has done something catastrophic to piss Mother Nature off. These last few weeks of natural disasters have been devastating, heartbreaking, and leaving all of us with the heavy burden of rebuilding the damage, the despair, and also the tax bill.

What these floods, cyclones, bush fires and earthquakes have shown me however, is that, no matter how technologically advanced we progress, nature will always win the fight against man. It is how we cope on this world that is the true testament to our species, and how we collaborate to compete with natural selection.

Although the haunting images of people losing everything as flood water swept away their possessions, bush fires burnt down their homes, cyclones obliterated towns and the earthquake crumpled iconic buildings and buried people alive, there is still a sense of disconnection to what is happening with me. Perhaps because I'm not in the action, perhaps because after the first few tragic days, news moves on, we don't see the month later "after shocks" to the extent of the initial exposure, that it's easy to carry on with our day to day activities. I feel terrible for all natural disaster victims, considering especially the immensity of what our country and fellow country has endured in such a short period of time, but what also bothers me is our general disconnection to the rest of the world's natural disasters.

When the Queensland floods struck, floods in Brazil took over 500 lives. When the Indonesia tsunami hit, hundreds of thousands of people's lives were taken. In my opinion, every single life ever lost in any natural disaster is a tragedy in itself.

What I have appreciated during this last month, is the attitude of Australians and New Zealanders, and their willingness to donate time, bravery, money and support to all victims of the incidents. It is admirable to watch fellow Australians do what they can to help others out; strangers, often, yet fellow Australians.

Perhaps, sadly, it takes a natural disaster for a country to truly unite. Perhaps issues like mining taxes, equality, political debates, and all other frequent topics in Australia are only left to linger when the country focuses on solely helping one another. The focus of these natural disasters has connected our spirits, caused everyone to consider the impact of if they were in that situation, and appreciate what is the only thing that truly matters in the world: fellow people.

I suppose, in the ever losing fight of man against nature, you've got to hope that, after another of nature's torturous wins, men and women will always have the strength to unite and rebuild, despite all of our differences.