On Sunday, 29th December 2024, Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashed in South Korea, killing 179 passengers and crew.

Each of these lives tells a story, one which their loved ones are sharing right now. While others celebrate and wish one another a happy new year, 179 families are not in any position to wish or receive such greetings.

I myself just picked up my own family from the airport this morning. So the reality of how things could be very different should make all of us pause at the uncertainty of life.

For the one same incident, different people will have different takes or interpretations of it. For this first episode of the Daily Monsoon, I will explore some of the different interpretations we commonly make and offer another this podcast offers for all future episodes.

Some reading about the Jeju Air crash may be indifferent. “Bad things happen. It’s just part of life” is probably the most common. Even for more empathetic people, there is only so much empathy one can give from a distance.

Who is to blame for the accident? In the first hour of the news, it seems that the birds were to blame. The air control tower had moments before told the pilot of potential bird strikes, where a flock of birds fly into the jet engines and disable them.

Then one expert commented that he can understand how bird strikes affect the engines, but how did it affect the landing gear? Videos showed that the pilot did a belly landing. No landing gear.

And it was a good landing. He had to land with the correct angle: flat, parallel to the runway. And he did it. And the plane slid down the runway. And many, if not all, would have survived if the plane came to a gradual stop. But it did not. The plane crashed into a wall, a concrete embankment, at the end of the runway. All but two perished.

Who was at fault? Many naturally point to the airline. The airline naturally says it is not their fault. They are cooperating with investigations.

Consider this announcement from Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae: The airline will reduce its winter air traffic by up to 15%. The CEO emphasises that cutting flight numbers is not an admission that it was running too many planes. I didn’t even consider running too many planes to be a probable cause until he mentioned it. But I don’t suppose the announcement matters. Many have cancelled their flights. Would-be travellers interpret what has happened to be a sign of something wrong with the airline? Who can blame them?

Though, if you look back… It was not that long ago, in different plane crashes, people were pointing the finger of blame, but they got it wrong. On 29 October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in Indonesia 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 onboard. On 10 March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in Ethiopia 6 minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 onboard. Initially, people blamed the pilots (they must have made a mistake) and the airlines (they must have been lax with safety and maintenance), but it was only later that the world realised that the real fault lies with the plane’s design.

So, who is to blame for Jeju Air Flight 2216? The birds, the pilot, the airline, the airport or the plane? Or perhaps the blame is somewhere else? We have to be patient before we can know for sure, while others speculate.

And investors will speculate. Shares of Jeju Air have dropped by 11%. Boeing share prices had also dropped in the same period but not by much. I suppose one of the traits of a savvy investor is being able to interpret how the news will impact shares prices. You have to be correct in your interpretation and act accordingly.

So, for the same event, there are many ways to interpret and respond, whether it’s to grieve, cancel your flight, or sell your stock. But this podcast, the Daily Monsoon, aims to offer another perspective on top of them all. A Christian perspective.

You don’t have to be a mourning family member, an anxious traveller or an opportunistic investor to appreciate how one event can prompt a different response and for everyone to gain from that response.

Would that same reasoning apply to those who offer a Muslim, Buddhist, or Atheist response? Can we all learn from them? Absolutely. But I contend that what made Christianity so attractive to me, and I am speaking from my personal experience, is how Christianity integrates all of reality. The Christian faith, when properly understood and practised, refuses to be compartmentalised.

The Christian faith and worldview works itself into how we see work and family, rest and play, politics and culture, weddings and funerals. It is all of life. All or nothing.

So, what is a Christian response to the Jeju Air crash? I say a Christian response because there is no one single response as a Christian.

Other than condolences and offering of prayers. Other than ill-timed and misunderstood theological declarations, “It is God’s Will.” Other than these stereotypical responses, does the Christian have anything to contribute that would be loving, truthful and meaningful? Something timeless and also timely.

To answer that, I ask the question, “Why do Jeju Air and similar plane crashes affect all of us so deeply?”

It affects all of us, or it should affect all of us because we all share a common humanity. There is, or there should be, a removal of a “us vs. them” divide. Since we are all created in the image of God, we, in one sense, suffer with them just as Christ had compassion for others.

Unlike death from a long illness, death here is unexpected. One moment, you are returning from a holiday, in the next moment, you are no more. And you leave behind family and friends who drove to the airport, never in their minds, expecting to drive back empty, less than before. Death here is so unexpected, that it screams to the world of the uncertainty of life. Is there anything in this world that is sure and certain, a promise that never breaks, a rock that never shatters, a foundation strong enough to build a life on?

Unlike a soldier’s death, or a fireman’s death, or a policeman’s death, death here is so meaningless. At least a soldier dies for his country, and a fireman and a policeman die to save others, but death here is so senseless, meaningless and thus so cruel. And so these deaths demand an answer. “Why?” And who could possibly answer that question other than God?

There are some questions that are best answered by a grief counsellor or an air accident investigator. But we should also recognise that the human condition also asks of us all big questions that can only be answered by our Creator and Author of our fate.

This podcast, the Daily Monsoon, does not presume to give the definitive answer in the short time that we have, but it aims to prompt and probe us all to wisely interpret the events around us and to respond accordingly.

Thank you for listening. Bye bye.