The irony of Japan's disaster

It seems odd to me how little we have heard about the ironic coincidence in Japan - that the only place to suffer from an intentional nuclear attack is now suffering what is being called the worst nuclear accident.

I wonder why we haven't noted that.

Ann

That is strange.

alj wrote:

It seems odd to me how little we have heard about the ironic coincidence in Japan - that the only place to suffer from an intentional nuclear attack is now suffering what is being called the worst nuclear accident.

I wonder why we haven't noted that.

Ann

It has been noted in the UK media.

It has been noted on NPR as well.

Dear Ann, I thought that right away. I feel so sorry for the Japanese people.

My stepson, who is half Japanese, told me about the shadows of the people who were disintegrated by that bomb that were burnt into the concrete of the walls.

I painted a picture of the shadows in rainbow colors. What a way for your spirit and life to be remembered . . . as a shadow on a wall.

Time passes. Peoples are a whole new generation and have no references to the past.

I was watching American Idol and one of the contestants sang and old Patsy Cline tune. Randy Jackson commended her on doing a song of a contemporary country singer. It occured to me that this generation of people know nothing about those old folks we remember so well. They are just shadows of the past.

I imagine there are people who never knew what happened in Japan, in any of the wars that precede their lives.

Love,
Betty

On the news today on BBC radio 5, a reporter from Japan was quite emotional when he described a meeting with two eight-year-olds who talked about their fears of radiation because they knew about Hiroshima. Just like Pearl Harbour, it is part of Japanese history.

Dear Shelagh,
I do not doubt that the people of Japan have a vivid remembering of Hiroshima, and that event has not been swept under the rug as it has here. They see the results of it every day. Those walls have not been torn down. They are there for all to see and think upon.

When one looks at the size of Japan on the world map, it is amazing that they are the number 3 political power of this earth. What a diciplined people.

Love,
Betty

I have to be careful. There is just too much suffering that I do not understand. My heart cries for the people of Haiti, the people in Iraq and Afghanistan, the people of New Zealand, the people in Japan - the list just keeps growing and growing because we know. We know things that previous generations only knew by an occasional newspaper report. We have this knowledge in our livingrooms and bedrooms as it happens. I don't believe it's any more than before - just more known and for those who let themselves feel the human agony of these traumatic circumstances, the pain can be intolerable. I admire those who attempt providing help where they can. It always seems such an insurmountable task to help in such dire circumstances. In these horrible circumstances arise heroic people, selfless deeds, and even from the pain and death, new things of beauty arise.

We cannot have world trade and turn a blind eye to the suffering caused by natural disasters. In the past, small communities were self-sufficient and blissfully ignorant of world affairs.

These are amazing pictures. Drag the "line" that's in the middle of the picture to the
left and right to see how it was before and how it is after the earthquake/tsunami.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html

That is soul-destroying, Abe. This will take years of recovery.

Shelagh wrote:

We cannot have world trade and turn a blind eye to the suffering caused by natural disasters. In the past, small communities were self-sufficient and blissfully ignorant of world affairs.

So true, Shelagh

Ann

4/18/2011


Just read on the news it was elevated from a 4 to a
5 , the danger levels they say go from 1-7 . I pray
they can cool this down...


Cheers..Joe