God in the hearts of the people

After a calamity like the tsunami, people ask, "Where was God? How could He let this happen?"

I read in this paper that some people claim their God was foreboding a day of judgment. For others, their God was punishing the wicked and corrupt.

I also read about Dina Astita (Tempo, April 26, An Icon from Calang), who lost all her four children to the tsunami and now teaches classes for the children who survived. She says by helping other children to school, her own children may be surviving someplace else.

I have no religion. But in her story, even I can see where one's God might be in all this -- in the hearts of people like Ibu Dina.

Bless her. And her children, wherever they are.

ADRIAN ARCHER, Jakarta