No names, not even numbers

A few weeks ago, I went to a talk put together by the PEN organization titled World Voices Literary Festival. One of my clients Mia Farrow was speaking with French journalist and activist Bernard-Henri Levy about the dire situation in Darfur.

One of the things that Mr. Levy said that struck me and I will never forget is the fact that in situations of genocide, not only are names forgotten, numbers are also miscalculated. Imagine not having even a number on this earth for you.

The number of people who have been killed in Myanmar from Cyclone Nargis varies from 68,833 to even 127,990. Imagine. We're not sure whether we can account for around 55,000 people. That's crazy.

The government's numbers are even more bizarre - Stating that 34,491 people have been killed.

It is true that in times like these, it is hard to calculate numbers...but guesstimates of such varying degrees is what is frightening.