This is a Good Thing

AP: Tsunami Actually Aided Crops in Indonesia---

MEULABOH, Indonesia - From atop the coconut tree where he fled to escape the onrushing water, Muhammad Yacob watched the tsunami turn his rice paddy into a briny, debris-strewn swamp.

Nine months later, Yacob and his wife are harvesting their best-ever crop — despite fears that salt water had poisoned the land.

"The sea water turned out to be a great fertilizer," said Yacob, 66, during a break from scything the green shoots and laying them in bunches on the stubble. "We are looking at yields twice as high as last year."

Rice, the region's staple food, is not the only crop thriving on tsunami-affected land in Indonesia's Aceh province, which suffered the worst damage and loss of life in the Dec. 26 disaster.

Farmers say vegetables, peanuts and fruit are also growing well, spurring hopes that agriculture in the still devastated region will recover faster than expected.

Really, this is a great thing.

Of course, the Lib writer has to descend into the doom and gloom later in the article.

But this guy has a great attitude:

Sur Salami has never grown corn higher — his plants stand two feet taller than him. But when heavy rain coincides with a high tide, around half of his 5 1/2-acre plot floods. He says it never did before, and blames the tsunami for changing the coastline.

"The sea is around 50 yards closer now," he said. "But we cannot lose hope. Whom can I complain to, anyhow?"

Perhaps the media should realize that bad things happen in life and you just have to pick yourself up and keep going.