Monday, March 14, 2011

Horror in Japan

The Great Wave off Kanagawa,
Katsushika Hokusai

What can one possibly say about the destruction, heartbreak and suffering in northern Japan? The recent earthquake and the great tsunami which followed it wiped out entire islands and whole stretches of coastline, cities, farms, industrial complexes and countless precious lives. This was among the most powerful quakes ever recorded, and we may never know how many lives were lost or how much damage was done.

Now there is infinite danger from failing nuclear reactors, and Japanese officials are fighting on several fronts to avert disaster. Reactors in the already ravaged north have been shut down, and operators are flooding them with cold water – including plant corroding sea water in some cases – in an effort to lower temperatures and prevent explosions which would blanket all of eastern Asia with radioactive contamination.

The horror is beyond words, and I feel so helpless. Prayers and candles, raising money, sending food and water, tents, blankets and drugs... Whatever one does for the good people of Japan is an infinitely small drop in the ocean of this calamity. What else can we do?

6 comments:

Tabor said...

It does feel that whatever we do...it is just a small drop in the ocean.

the wild magnolia said...

We do what we can. We want to make it right.

The die is cast and we are horrified and helpless, as you say.

I'm finding in my older years, I "feel" things even more deeply.

Wishing I were the "superhero crone" to jet through the cosmos and make all things brand new, and turn back time, and take away the quake and tsunami. Sigh...alas, I am an old crone lighting candles and saying prayers.

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Thousands of miles away
I pray

Cindy said...

Just wrote on my blog about this. May they be lifted up....

Victoria said...

Echoing what the Wild Magnolia said...

Anonymous said...

Only what you can do. And pray.