generalspeaking

Buddhist Heritage

The incomprehensible tragedy that Nature has brought to Japan is beyond belief. People who are superstitious often succumb to a belief that 'bad things' happen in the order of three succeeding events, one following on the other, each event transcending the other in orders of magnitude. It's hard to see which of the three disasters newly visited on Japan, might be considered the most horrible.

The unprecedented earthquake in terms of sheer terrifying scale which wrenched an always-alert population to the understanding that this very particular quake was far different from its countless predecessors would have been confidence-eroding and difficult enough to comprehend. Followed instantly by a matching-in-degree tsunami (who knew such disturbed oceanic waves travel at the speed of a jet plane?!) seemed to trump the tremblor.

Earthquake-coded buildings seemed to weather most of the effects of the earth's terrifying movement. But the resulting tsunami - of which neither it nor the earthquake gave prior warning - wrought incalculable damage, as an immense, unstoppable watery cliff bore down, and as thousands of Japanese perished and their property dissolved under the sheer force of nature's immense totalitarian power.

And then, the nuclear power stations, those fearful installations that humankind in their arrogance feels it can tame until Nature takes the upper hand just to demonstrate what she is capable of. The outcome of the failure of the generators, the overheating of the nuclear cores, the explosions, the exposure of the fuel rods, the escaping radiation, and the exodus of desperate people.

This country of consummate courtesy, with its reverence for nature, balancing its fearful respect for nature's forces, as a societally organic coping mechanism has and will continue to aid the people to overcome this seemingly insurmountable set of disasters. The Japanese are a stoic, proud, determined people honouring their past with admirable fortitude and endurance.

Japan has endured in the past and continues to do so now. It experiences about ten percent of the world's seismic activity. The Japanese never forget how vulnerable they are in their oceanic perch. They are never permitted to forget it, since quakes of various magnitudes are felt continually. Once such a quake is experienced it is never forgotten. You wait. Certain yet uncertain that the shaking will soon stop.

It does, eventually. The number of seconds it takes before it does stretch out interminably in time. Seconds become much longer, larger elements of time. But it finishes and everything returns to normal. And normal is the expectation that it will happen again, and again and again. Elsewhere, that trite little phrase "what does not kill will strengthen" has meaning in Japan. That frail people have rigid spines.

"In the past we have overcome all kinds of hardships. Each of you should accept the responsibility to overcome this crisis and try to create a new Japan."

Labels: Japan, Natural Disasters, Nature

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, March 15, 2011