This thought has lingered with me ever since Friday's event in Japan. We are ants on a log in all this drama. Infinitesimally small and insignificant in the big scheme of things. We can rebuild, pray, create stronger abodes, move to higher ground for a while.
Then, we will forget again.
We will roam the earth looking for adventures and opportunities.
We will feel powerful and strong again. We'll encourage engineers and architects to build bigger and stronger structures to withstand bigger and stronger events. Our technology and our tools will improve and we will gain another stronghold in history.
Our small town was spared the power of tsunami waves last Friday. Other towns, up and down the coast were not so lucky. Our elementary school is sitting low. In an event like this, our children will have less than fifteen minutes to walk away from sure destruction.
These are the thoughts we are exchanging on this beautiful shore after a destructive event the power of which was unimaginable.
32 comments:
You are so right....it's times and moments like these which make us realize how small we are in this Grand universe and the scheme of things.
Glad you're doing okay there....have been thinking of you.
what surprises me, rosaria, is how quickly we forget devastation. what of Christchurch? what of Haiti? i'm sure i'm missing many. what of Louisiana? what of sept 11? what of the wars around the world currently? and yet each time once we have a safe distance we sigh and forget. we're a foolish lot. we should be busy every day being thankful for this very day.
xo
erin
I remember as we drove down the coast from Washington State to San Francisco, California, all the Tsunami warning signs we saw. I have thought of those as I've watched the disaster in Japan.
I'm very glad your lovely small town was spared.
It's been a few days that have changed so many lives. I keep thinking of those beautiful, patient people in Japan.
I don't believe that man is insignificant on the planet, but I do know that life is fragile; that we as mortals are fragile. Which makes me ponder what it is I should be doing, knowing that disaster can strike anywhere, in any form. I hope I can better help others. I hope I can be a better human being.
how soon we forget...and haiti was only a little over a year ago...
It is a blessing that we forget...a blessing and a challenge.
Warm Aloha & Gratitude from Honolulu!
Comfort Spiral
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ants on a log. a good way to put it. it's good to try and be prepared but the reality is you don't always get a lot of warning. Prepared or not, I tend to think you go when it's your time. when it's not, you live through it.
The earth has been quaking for billions of year. We are not its masters - we are its tenants.
I feel sorrow for the loss of Japan's people, though.
The only way to triumph over this disaster is to move forward..slowly if needed. It's not forgetting, it's getting on with important things. The prayers fuel the faith to rebuild. The prayers also soothe the hurt and hopefully heal those that have lost so much. We can't control the universe, the weather, the struggles that are part of being in this world. But we can control how we feel, how we help others and how we never give up trying to make this world a better place.
you said it rosaria. we humans build, tragedy strikes, we suffer, we rebuild.
but what is it about the forgetting part you speak of? the ancient greeks believed souls drank from the waters of lethe to forget what happened between lives. it speaks to the powerful survival instinct of man and womankind to recover from such tragedies as these.
Ants on a log. Yes. I am glad that your town was spared. Mother Nature is angry with us, justifiably.
Many questions, no answers.
Mankind has no control over Mother Earth! Mother nature gets angry too!
You are so right, Rosaria. There are things we cannot control. We can try to prepare, no more. We can be aware and consider others in our struggles. The Japanese people as a culture are a wonderful example of cooperation in the face of adversity.
Awesome post, Rosaria.
This is so true...humbling to remember our smallness. My heart aches for the people in Japan.
It is odd how quickly we forget that we as individuals are nothing but a dust mite and collectively a scourge. We can change but all we want to know is what's the fastest way away from natural catastrophe.
And even in the face of the truth you wrote, we prepare as best we can to cope with the natural events of our area, as is shown in your preparedness packs. But our efforts are so little given such forces.
So glad your town was spared. This has been an awful year with regards to weather and disasters.
We've been through many hurricanes and after several years, people start to forget the devastation and rebuild in dangerous areas. Memories seem short.
Sam
Oh my Rosaria, the school..less than 15 minutes
that is sobering
I don't think we forget the others
we put each and everyone in a quiet place
and go on living
I always think this about disaster preparedness. We can prepare, and I have, and then we wait to see if we had enough to battle a monster. I lived through a hurricane season in FL that I finally gave up preparing for.
Due to the accelerating climate warming cycle that we are going through, ice caps melt and ocean rises. Places that were high ground no longer are.
In a near future island countries such as Vanuatu and some coastal areas even in the Americas will be under water or nearly so.
Population transfers will have to take place. Where wil those people go? Will we be ready to accomodate and accept them?
Well stated at just how vulnerable we all are to nature and how we think we have won, only to discover how puny we really are.
So glad you were spared.
there is always a price to pay when enjoying nature's beauty - like picky a prickly rose, but it smells so sweet
We truly are ants on a log. The scope of the tragedy in Japan is overwhelming. Even with all their preparations for both earthquakes and tsunamis. But preparation is important nonetheless. I read that some cities had annual tsunami drills with clearly identified safety spots. Drills and personal preparations are critical because in the midst of a disaster it's hard to think and make decisions. I know that from the time our California home was hit by a wildfire some years back.
We really are small and insignificant when a natural disaster strikes.
Ants on a log....when it's UR time, it's UR time and it isn't going to matter where U R or what U R doing, it's just gonna happen. Live each day as if it were UR last and one day it will be.
Am so glad UR doing okay for now.
Hugs
Ants on a log. Spot-on! And then, we'll probably forget and carry on with our little, antsy lives.
Great post.
Greetings from London.
I am reminded of our smallness in the universe when looking at the stars and wonder about universes yet unknown, or more realistically, peering out the window of aircraft. You rarely see people.
Interesting use of pictures. The tiny prep kit compared to the ocean. Nice.
Great post! So glad that your town was spared! With 50% of our population living in coastal areas, the U.S. is not exempt from these catastrophes. Yet, we continue to build and live on the coasts and in earthquake zones, as if it couldn't and wouldn't happen to us. Like ants on a log!
You are right. When nature rebels, we are powerless. So glad you and yours are OK.
This still blows my mind. I have shook my head every day now since it has happened, and yet I cannot quite come to grips with how tragic it really is.
Brian's right - we forgot Haiti way too soon. And then new zealand and Chile and...now Japan. The triple disaster seems particularly harsh and tragic.
- Trish
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