A Respectful Bow

Oh my Lord, the international news reports coming in from northern Japan are heartbreaking. Amazing stories of survival include watching their life wash away as they cling to a tree or something, and hours of expecting to perish before they are found. Their faces are etched with worry as they are carried to a chair, and right away they gather up the blankets around them and find legs to stand so they can bow to their rescuers.

The largest quake was severe enough to move the earth 8 feet. One survivor, a grateful grandmother in the evacuation center, lay with her eyes on her grandson as he slept;  a hive of workers scrambled over the mountain of debris looking for those undiscovered and trapped; one sorrowful man stood lost and looking for small part of his former life. It is grim.

There have been hundreds of aftershocks and another quake today just north of Sendai that triggered another tsunami. As you would expect, newsreporting has been continuous since Friday and yet there is an absence of paparazzi photos of outraged and self-righteous people wailing in loss. What we see are people sitting side by side and patiently waiting for the work to begin. What grace!

The national disaster preparedness policies were fantastic and surely saved lives in the aftermath. It has been life-affirming to watch the open-arms dialogue from a self-contained culture, and the worldwide response of rescue teams already on the ground there. They are not alone.

As hard as it is, there is a great lesson in observing the behavior of people when all that is left behind is life. Their national character and resilience shines through to stabilize and resolve, cope and respond. Already we see they are ready to rebuild as they collectively focus on a new point on the horizon.  I find it deeply moving to watch life find a way.