Japan

How we view the world makes us who we are. For instance, some people just see what's happening right around them. Some see what's happening in their house, their family, and that is their view of the world, the world they live in.

I don't know why, but I have always been in tune with what's happening in the whole world, our planet. I started reading the newspaper at age 10. From then on, I've realized that what happens elsewhere, though it may be far away, directly or indirectly affects me. I think that what happens in one part of the world affects all of us, some of us are just more keenly aware of the meaning of it all.

One example, of course is 9/11. It was like a cloud, a grey cloud descended on the world, and made us focus on good and evil. We realized how vulnerable we all are. We experienced a collective depression, because we knew that we are not in control of our surroundings. It's as if we were little kids and the schoolyard bully decided he just doesn't like you. For no reason at all. A totally helpless feeling, because we knew that no matter what we did, the bully just didn't like us, and would not be happy until we were totally destroyed.

The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear catastrophe were caused by Mother Nature, I don't know who decided that nature was a female, but nontheless, this female is fierce. The song "I am woman hear me roar" comes to mind, but not very appropriate here.

I don't know what other people do, but I pray that the whole situation will not be as damaging to the environment and the people in Japan (and elsewhere in the world.) I pray all the time. In the last few years, there has been very little good news. Turn on the TV, watch the latest world happenings on the internet, and just in conversations with friends and acquaintances, the current events seem to be mostly bad.

As a believer in God, I know that He gave us hope as a gift. We must not lose hope. I am a great believer in the resiliency of the human being, and I know we will, and the people of Japan will, rise above the way things are now.

It's funny how even 9/11 has faded somewhat from our memories, thanks to the passage of time. I think that every time there is a new cataclysm or disaster, we think about the end of the world. But the world keeps going on and so do we. Mother Nature renews and rebuilds itself.

The Bible says that no one knows when the end of the world will be, only God Himself knows. So I try to remember that.

I pray for the people of Japan, in the meantime.