Tragedy

I don't normally post over the weekend, and I wouldn't have been able to if I'd tried. I'm currently in a state of shock and heartbreak.

Most of you who read this blog know that I lived in Japan for a number of years until recently. I'm studying Japan, and was there are recently as last July. So as you can imagine the current disaster unfolding in Japan has hit a bit close to home.

Everyone I know in Japan is safe -- most of them live in the western part of the country, far from the epicenter of the quake. But that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better. Thousands of people in a place I love are dying and I can't do anything to help them but hope and pray.

Things like this remind us of how powerless we are sometimes in the face of the world. We can't move mountains like Superman. So when the world shifts we have to shift with it.

But that doesn't mean we're without heroes. Even in the face of all the destruction there are people from all around the world doing everything they can to help. They're heroes in the truest sense of the world, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

I spent most of my time in Japan living in Kobe. In 1995 Kobe was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake. But by the time I arrived in 2005 you could barely tell. Kobe had been rebuilt, stronger and more beautiful than ever.

And so I have faith that the people of Sendai, Miyagi, and all the other places devastated by this earthquake will rise up and rebuild their homes. They won't be able to forget the pain or the people they've lost. But I know the spirit of the Japanese people. It won't be easy, but they'll make it through this.

頑張って、日本。