For the past few weeks, Sumatera (Specifically Aceh) has been drowning, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m not there. I’m not standing in the water, holding onto a roof or carrying what’s left of my life in a waterproof bag or anything. I’m just watching from a screen and somehow, even that feels so heavy. Seeing people and animals scramble to save themselves and their families does something to you. I may not be living their reality but I recognize the pain. Some suffering doesn’t need firsthand experience to be understood. You just know when something is deeply wrong.
There was one video I couldn’t get out of my head. A man crying while searching for his wife, calling her name again and again. At some point, he stopped. Not because he stopped loving her, but because he believed she was already gone. Now, all he wanted was to find her body so he could give her a proper burial. That was his final wish. In the middle of chaos, loss, and shock, he was still thinking about dignity. About respect. About love. It hurts me a lot.
For the first time, I found myself fully blaming the government. This flood wasn’t just about heavy rain or “unpredictable” weather like people keep saying. Experts from universities such as UGM and IPB have explained that deforestation played a huge role here. Forests that used to absorb rain are gone. Trees were cut, land was trimmed, and when the rain finally came, there was nothing left to protect the people living there. But sure, let’s keep calling it a natural disaster, it sounds cleaner and makes avoiding responsibility a lot easier.
I’m angry, like genuinely angry at the people who keep making money off environmental destruction. But I'm honestly more kinda confused? Yeah, I’m just so confused man. What are you people actually thinking when you do this? Or are you only thinking in terms of numbers and profit you'll make out of it? This feels like capitalism at its worst form. forests turned into profit for a small group of rich people, while the people and animals who live nearby the forests lose the very things that used to protect them, the shade to protect them from the burning sun, the clean air, the feel of safety. Finally when disaster hits, it’s never people who's sitting in air-conditioned offices who feel it first. It's the people down there.
It’s not just humans who ended up paying the price. Animals suffer too, Shame on you heartless people. they're creatures with no voice, no choice, no way to explain their fear. They run until they can’t. They drown. They disappear. There are no rescue teams looking for them, no compensation, no headlines. Most of the time, they’re not even mentioned. They just lose their homes. I’m tired of seeing this over and over again. How did we get so used to this? How did this become something we just accept? It's so stupid.
Do you know what makes me want to throw up? It's watching certain public figures from the governments show up at disaster sites like it’s part of a routine. They come, take photos, record videos, say a few comforting words, and then leave once everything is documented. What are you? A freaking joke.
Meanwhile, local people who have lost so much feel grateful for them, making them feel like heroes. I can’t stop thinking about how unfair that is, because so many of these disasters are connected to decisions they made, far away from the people who now have to deal with the consequences. It’s hard not to feel bitter watching that.
How can they not think this through??? How can they keep making choices knowing exactly who will suffer in the end??? People in Aceh lose their homes, their safety, their loved ones. Animals lose everything. What freaking hurts me the most is how predictable this all feels. We act shocked every time, but deep down we all know goddamn well that this didn’t come out of nowhere.
Now, watching it happen again, I just feel so exhausted and sad. I keep remembering something I once heard "if we take care of nature, nature will take care of us." and right now... it feels like we forgot that completely. Because if this keeps going, what exactly are we left with when there’s no earth to live on? This is our only home. I can’t imagine where we’re supposed to go next, unless someone truly believes money and power can replace a place to live. This is pathetic.
WAKE THE HELL UP PEOPLE!!
