My eyes and ears are fixed on the television. I know I am watching a terrible disaster being played out in Japan as the world watches. And there is something so awful that it seems unreal, like the previews I have seen of the apocryphal movies I refuse to watch.
I try to imagine what it must be like for those in the middle of the earthquake and tsunami and I can’t. Perhaps my mind won’t let me. And yet my heart reaches out to those who must live through this disaster or mourn for those they have lost. And then go through the deprivations entailed in the days and years ahead as some new normal returns. I whisper a prayer. Part of me knows.
As each day comes, I, and even some in Japan, physically distant from the disaster, go about our daily lives in a normal way and yet, we are shaken by what can happen when the earth shifts and shakes and the ocean unleashes its power. The crying, the wailing, the waiting, the stunned silence and desperate searches, touch our universal soul and we are one with those who must struggle for survival. We are one with them and we are not them because this time it was not us.
I look around me at all the things I have. I will enjoy them but hold them more lightly now. They can be gone in the twinking of an eye. Life is what matters most.
I do not see the wrath of God in any of this. The Universal Spirit is in the giving of strength and comfort to those who need it. The Holy is in the response of those people and nations who offer help. God is in the human spirit and in the human ingenuity that kept the earthquake from more destructiveness. God is in our sharing a common humanity with those in Japan. At least, that’s how I see it
I will follow all that is happening in the days ahead with my eyes and my heart What I do and feel is as insignificant as a grain of sand. But, it is something, especially when human spirits are joined in common compassion. I am proud of those journalists and amateur communicators who are at risk by reporting from the scene and calling on us to act.
Anything I say seems so trivial. And yet, I must note these things that are happening.