Dig the "it's-all-about-me" attitude expressed here...

Many believe the tsunami that devastated this tourist hotspot and killed thousands had one positive side: By washing away rampant development, it returned the beaches to nature.

Greg Ferrando glistened with sweat and sea water as he went for a barefoot jog up the immaculate white sand beach, where the tsunami has wiped away almost all signs of humanity.

"This whole area was littered with commercialism," said the 43-year-old from Maui, Hawaii. "There were hundreds of beach chairs out here. I prefer the sand."

Me too. Without the joggers messing up the view. Guess the tsunami missed one.

Here's a guy who's moved to Maui, defaced part of Hawaii's land with his hovel, and is now thrilled that Thailand's locals have had their livihood wiped out. One can only wonder if he'd apply the same sort of thinking to his own residence in Maui: "The land would look so much nicer without my home on it."

No doubt he's sleeping on the beach, where the tides will wash away all traces of his slumber, rather than contributing to the commericalization and despoilment of the natural beauty of the area by renting a man-made hotel room.

"They were just building and building and building. It was too much. You couldn't even walk around," said Moriel Avital, a 24-year-old Israeli who lived on the island for four months.

"It was all gone in one wave — it's telling people not to mess with nature," she said. "Paradise should be paradise and should not become this civilized."

She appears to means one of two things by this.

Perhaps she means that she herself shouldn't be there, since she's a part of the problem too. In that case, she's a hypocrite.

Or perhaps she means that fewer accomodations should be available -- but only the extent that she could still visit -- meaning that she wants to achieve a somewhat more "natural" state by denying a vacation at Phuket to only those people poorer than she. Sort of like Maui (see above) where stringent building restrictions mean only the ultra-rich can afford to live or visit there.

In that case, she's an elitist hypocrite.

Finally, her quote raises an interesting question: When she says "it's telling people not to mess with nature", who's the "it"? Is she saying the earthquake happened because Gaia was angry we didn't put more leftists in power? Explain.