A disaster puts everything in your tiny life in perspective

A disaster along the scale of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan can bring no good news.  It’s a tragic natural disaster that can produce stories of hope and surprise rescues, but the death toll is almost certain to rise over 10,000.

The reason this tragedy affects me more than the Indonesian tsunami in 2004 is that I lived in Japan for a couple years and personally know how gentle and kind they are.  Whenever I travelled in the country it was always friendly and effortless.  On more than one occasion I went camping by myself and families, who I didn’t know, invited me into their tents to have some food and drink.

Even riding the trains in the big cities was a great experience.  Everybody that I encountered, except for one person on the train one time, was polite and kind.  So out of about 800,000 Japanese people that I encountered, only 1 was a knucklehead, those are pretty good odds.

What’s fascinating about this disaster is that there have been no reports of looting or civil disobedience.  Granted, people are hungry, thirsty, cold and want help, but they’re not raiding the ruins of crashed houses and stores.  That certainly speaks to the character of the Japanese people and how they respect and value others.

Even if you don’t know anything about a country that goes through a massive disaster like this it can still have an effect on you.    Suddenly that ache in your foot isn’t so bad and the financial challenges you have aren’t so great are they?

The vast amount of loss and suffering happening in the Sendai area make any union protests, budget fights or celebrity news coming from the U.S. seem petulant and juvenile.

It’s staggering to watch the images coming from Sendai.  Here’s a good source of sites that are offering help to the area.  We also just found this uplifting story about a new dad who escaped with his child. I know that the news cycle will phase out of Sendai in a couple weeks, but my thoughts will still be with them.