10,000/1,000/5,000/500,000/6,000 When I think of people who are killed in great disasters - the collatoral damage - I think of a thousand people in my old secondary school's sports hall - there were 1,000 pupils in my school, and they all fitted in the sports hall for the last assembly of the year before the summer holidays. So when a news presenter says '10,000 people were killed by malnutrition/in the conflict so far/in the flooding etc etc, I will think of 10 sports halls worth of people. That's a fecking lot of people. It's the only way I can get my head around vast quantitites of people. I want to say I'm sorry for not meeting you, people who I've never met who are dead. For not helping you, for not being able to do one measly thing for you. Because when I think of 10 sports halls worth of people I feel utterly helpless.  ¶ 5:58 pm