Amid my recent rift with someone over an alleged Korean blogger's hate comment towards Pinoys (see picture to the right), my thoughts somehow can't escape very graphic images of how a significant part of Japan was destroyed by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the 13-foot (or was it 33?) tsunami that followed.
As if not enough and barely able to digest the enormity of the catastrophe, the Japanese are now scrambling to avoid one nuclear meltdown after another.
Now we see, hear and read how the Japanese acted during and after the earthquake and the tsunami. Sure there is the presence of fear and sorrow that is only to be naturally expected in a country damaged of such huge proportions. Then again, regardless of the proper (if ever there should be one) decorum in the middle of calamities, the guy interviewed in CNN was right - it's something you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.
With all these I can't help but ask the inevitable question: "If such had happened to us Filipinos (or to any other race less noble, less magnanimous, less dedicated, less courageous, less efficient and less resourceful than the Japanese), would we have acted right away in the same calm and collected manner that the Japanese showed? Or would we have reduced ourselves to pity and disorganization, taking time to digest everything first? Truly better to digest these questions now than later when we're already in the same situation (hopefully not anytime soon, dear God), right?
Let me end this blog by posting two striking images from Reuters and Associated Press (AP) via Yahoo Photos:
The picture c/o AP to the left reminds me of a story from Japan that I read and studied in high school. I can't remember the title of the story, however, I can say that this picture of a guy carrying an elderly is practically the same as what's narrated in the story - that of a son refusing to leave his elderly mother to die in the hands of incoming invaders even if it means having to carry her on his back while climbing a hill (or was it a mountain?).
The picture c/o Reuters to the right, in the meantime, presents itself as a fitting tribute to this true-to-life tale. See Japan is exactly like the young man in the picture above and the story I narrated - courageous, efficient, noble. He is a forward thinker, never to leave himself, or anyone else that matters, even his own enemies, sulking and in despair, in spite of the undesirability of his state. He helps himself, he helps others. He rose before, he rises now. It therefore can be easily expected that he will continuously rise above and beyond atomic bombs, nuclear meltdowns, earthquakes and tsunamis.
As a final note, even if we have so much to learn from and admire about Japan, it surely wouldn't hurt to think that its people, however courageous, efficient or proud they are in helping themselves rise again, can only do so much. The country has been helping others in need since its rise from the ashes after World War II. This time, for the sake of compassion and even gratitude, let's do whatever we can to help this country, this race, that's now in need. My own contribution? I will start with prayers.
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