I spent most of the first 18 years of my life in Japan and the idea of the Big One striking was as much a part of life as eating and breathing. Still, nothing prepares for the incredible sight of Japanese homes, businesses and lives being washed away in a split second.
We learn a lot about each other in moments of crisis but there are many things about the Japanese and we Americans that we already know: Japanese are sober-minded and clear-headed in moments of crisis like this -- it's highly unlikely that they'll loot or in any way take advantage of the tragedy for personal gain. Rather they'll look out for their neighbors and help one another. We also know something about America -- that in moments of crisis we take action and ask questions later and the best of the American spirit comes out in moments like these. I have no doubt that Americans will rise to the occasion and help their brothers and sisters in Japan in every way possible.
If trouble comes in multiples, that is definitely true of Japan today. As if weathering a 20-year recession wasn't bad enough, Japan has also been experiencing a crisis of confidence that has produced a listless society in which roughly 100 people commit suicide every single day of the year and the birth rate is so tragically low that the population is estimated to drop from 120 million to 80 million in just a matter of decades. As if all of that wasn't bad enough, the country now faces a tragedy of Biblical proportions.
If past is prologue, Japan will bounce back from this tragedy with the help of America's finest: her soldiers in uniform at bases like Yokota and Yokosuka, and her dedicated missionaries and other expats dispersed around the nation who will remind the Japanese why America is still her best and closest ally in a dangerous world.
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The Japanese are great people. They'll rise up to build what had been destroyed, and will do more. The Americans will help and share in this misfortune. Our government and the private citizens and organizations will help because its in their nature to be charitable and to be generous.
We pray that this incident will make us realize that we are not in control. Not an iota of control against the forces of nature.
As for "Biblical" proportions: No. The nation wasn't wiped out, and -- contrary to unjust Biblical biases -- nobody in multi-religious Japan can or should be accused of incurring a Hebrew god's wrath.
Mankind is not in control of the earth, the universe, or his/her life in matters of physical forces that only nature can do gently or violently.