after a killer quake, a 10-meter tsunami left japan so devastated. tens of thousands have yet to be accounted for, and dead bodies are turning out by the hundreds every day. aggravating the misery is the threat of a nuclear meltdown that could well render the surviving japanese very sick.
many countries are convulsing with their own problems. revolutions, civil wars, terrorism. recession. and we see before our own eyes in the luxury of our living rooms in high-definition color, the anger, the rage, the frustration.
then came the quake and the tsunami.
yet we still have to hear of looting, rioting. all we can see are people patiently queueing up for their meager share. everybody gets to buy a little bit of something to eat or drink. no jostling around. no short tempers. no stealing. no one taking advantage.
is this the japanese way of dealing with disaster? the future is uncertain. yet like ants, they meekly accept what is and tries to do a little bit of good not only for himself but also a bit for a fellow japanese. from a news item i read from an australian site yesterday, i learned that at the entrance of one of the evacuation site in Rokugo Junior High, the visitor is greeted by a row of neatly stacked footwear. tacitly, it means, anybody wishing to enter must also leave one's footwear outside. the local grocers delivered their crates of food and a net row of portable toilets were set up. in the carpark, volunteers (presumably the able-bodied of the survivors helped pump water for those who could not. outside a gas station, motorists calmly queued up to buy their share of gas.
i wish somehow, we could learn lessons from small things like this. especially during disasters. how to survive a disaster --- earthquake, tsunami, and a nuclear crisis. written by THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN!
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