Looking down into the waters below through a Plexiglas box was something that I absolutely loved as a kid. A whole other unseen world was revealed with fish and moving plants and different light and. . . It was such magic to peer into another world. Later I would enjoy the world that Jacques Cousteau opened up with his invention of the "aqua lung." The underwater world was so quiet and enveloping. Even the dangers were silent; sharks, our favorite the Moray Eels, barracudas or even the possibility of being lost under the ice. Kind of dream like--the cries can't be heard.
There's a part of me that is still entangled by the frenetic self expression that the last week has made me think the western "rich" world represents. I still read the doom and arrogant gloom of James Kunstler's blog and it still fills me with the trepidations he's so good at instilling. I guess selling fear is almost as big a business as selling salvation. Maybe they walk the aisle together.
When the Huffington Post (spit on the the left for being as reactionary as the right) printed "NO HOPE" as their big headline just as the Fukushima (Happy Island) nuclear uncertainty was at its peak and scaring many and there was lots of uncertainty in Japan, I realized how far we have gone toward the direction of no restraint. I see it in the Facebook posts and even the NY Times-- which until recently I have always held to be above the generally lack of civility. The PBS News Hour was actually the best at listening and talking to people who weren't just beating the drum of Apocalypse. However when Mark Shields tried to take credit for the 'Messy American system of free information," being responsible for loosening the information flow from Japanese officials in Fukushima I almost choked. The only thing the American press did was spread rumor and fear--and probably they received a lot of hits on their websites for it too.
I cried when I saw the workers who volunteered to go into the dangerous plants to work on fixing what could have potentially been even more horrific. They knew the risks and for their families, their country and the world, they went. I'm tearing up now. Such beauty in action. I love the Japanese. 思いやりがあります。Awareness of the other person.
When in a store tonight with Kaime to buy just one thing the lady in front of me said please go ahead. So typical. Such a polite people.
I always found the NHK broadcasts about the Fukushima nuclear plant to be informative, serious, and calm. No one was cavalier or smug (the way G. Bush senior looked when he announced the start of the first war with Iraq) but they were doing their best to fix this absolutely nightmarish situation.
On the subway to work I looked around me like that kid in the boat. I can't understand it at all. Always a stranger in a strange land. Mystery on mystery.
Peace and Love. . .
If possible please help to support the effort to rebuild the Tohoku area by donating to one of the organization listed below in the "Prayers" blog.
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