Surviving: a Blessing or a Curse?

On May 12, 2010, the Afriqiyah flight carrying 104 people crashed in Tripoli, Libya as it was coming in to land. Most people, after seeing a headline that said that, would think that there were no survivors. That all 104 people on that plane died there. This time, however, that was not the case.

Perhaps it would have been better if all 104 passengers had died.

The Afriqiya Airways Airbus A330-200 flight left from Johannesburg, South Africa. Instead of the safe landing at the Tripoli International airport that the passengers had been expecting, there was a devastating accident. Not only did 92 passengers lose their lives, but so did 11 crew members.

However, not all 104 people aboard were accounted for in the death toll above. One young Dutch boy survived. He was the only survivor of a plane crash that killed 61 other people from the Netherlands, including his parents and his brother. As said by Jerzy Buzek, his survival was “truly a miracle.”

To many people around the world, it is seen as a miracle that a boy around 10 years old survived. Perhaps the Dutch child himself thinks the same, but it does not change that he lost his closest relatives. At some point in time, he must face the fact that he no longer has them by his side. His parents can’t help him choose the best school to go to, and they can’t be there to support him on his wedding day or be grandparents to his children. If they ever did, he and his brother can no longer roughhouse around. They can't argue, or play games together anymore.

It can still be seen as a miracle that he survived, but only time will tell whether or not he thinks that surviving is a blessing or a curse.