TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Praying for the Passengers, Crew, and Families of Malaysia Airlines 370

Monday, March 17, 2014

Praying for the Passengers, Crew, and Families of Malaysia Airlines 370

It seems fantastic to think that a huge plane can simply vanish.

I've been in airplanes where scary things have happened. When we were in Brazil not too long ago, the plane was landing and suddenly, the pilot aborted the descent. It was frightening, and all I could do was pray. It turned out the pilot decided the runway was too slick -- it had been raining --- and he wisely judged it would be safer to wait. (That was the official version, anyway. It could have been some other reason.)

I have been thinking of the passengers of the Malaysia Airlines plane that vanished. I hope their ordeal was not too awful. I hope they had the courage to deal with it.

And if God wills a miracle, I hope they are somewhere safe.

May God keep them under the shadow His wings.

I took the above pictures of Malaysia in 2012.

Read also,
Malaysia: Where Enrique of Malacca Came From
Burma: Moving Forward

This is all for now,
Cecilia

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.