Have you cried? Do you care? Please tell me I am not alone.

I feel a great deal for the people in Japan and the devestation that they are facing. Some have lost family members, their homes, jobs etc. all at once. What an absolute nightmare to have to live through. My thoughts and heart are with them.

reply to post by westcoast


Dear Westcoast: In Canada, I feel a similar sense of being alone in my epathic tsunami in 2004, when it seemed like I was the only one that was deeply affected by the fact no one seemed to care, aside from going about their daily business like all they put into it's understanding wa a couple of clips on headline news. I haven't been the same since. After Japan, I also feel completely concerned for our 'western' way of thinking, and the disaster itself may cause, if our own lives begin to collapse, though we can be strong in knowing we aren't the only ones. I have tried to set up 'Protean Dynamics Group' on Facebook, a suport group for the likeminded. This site is invaluble. Good work folks.

Originally posted by HADOUKEN
I think many humans are a waste of the air they breathe. There are too many humans on this planet that should not survive, yet they do.

And some who perish deserve life, but can you give it to them?

I fell worse but i think its an example to show humankind what use of natura is when it is itself:hey
when the tsunami swept near reactor the cooling systems were destroyed and temperature increased
salt sea water (with no impurities)is enough for coolinng it.but due to trading industries or what ever the
water was inavailable.......thats an example.any wayzz i still fell sad for em.
Disaster after disaster made me to be sleepless

OP, you are not alone.

It is extremely depressing seeing the videos and hearing stories of loss. At times I have to take a break from watching the news coverage because it is so disheartening.

No, you are not alone. I have friends in Japan; I can't get a hold of them and they would have made contact by now if they could. I knew while watching the coverage we were watching people die. I'm crying now just typing this. The Japanese are a tough noble people; they made dangerous enemies and are valuable allies. I cry for the innocent children, the parents who lost their children and the parents who even now are struggling to provide for their children. I pray for them because other then donate that is all we can do for them.

There have been so many tragedies, so much suffering I don't know where we go from here.

Originally posted by Mindpeace
reply to post by westcoast

 

Hello Westcoast.

I should start here to say that I both sympathize and empathize with your observations of your own Selfhood. The qualities you cited are laudable, and I commend you for your unabashed compassion. S&F

Now, I WOULD like to take this opportunity to point out that each and every Individual brings their own uniqueness to the table, so to speak. "Suppression of Emotion", while being [quite assumptively] observable in some, is not always as it appears to be. There are countless strategies employed by folks who choose to interact with these horrific events - and taking an assumptive approach when weighing the interactive "motives" of others could be likened to trying your balancing act on the proverbial "slippery slope" - for an assumption brings with it whatever "slippery baggage" there is clinging TO that assumption.

In my own case, each and every day I seek out the kindnesses, courtesies, exchanged respect and displays of unmitigated love I can identify. I also DO register the cruelties, the injustices, the selfishness; the heart-wrenching infliction of pain and anguish on each other that seems, at times, to be the tragic specialty of this all-too-often damnable human costume.

As stated at the beginning of these thoughts, I commend you for your compassion during these times of hardship and strife for the Japanese people. However, as the Mahatma once stated:

"Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding." Mohandas Gandhi - 1869-1948

I believe that through your extending a bit more patience and understanding, you will be rewarded with a more full embrace of us all.

Thanks again for the OP Westcoast.

Mindpeace

edit on 17-3-2011 by Mindpeace because: (no reason given)

You are absolutely right. I believe you are a very wise person.

I can see how by assuming there is something wrong with the people experiencing different emotions or reactions than myself, could be a pitfall. I am making the assumption that because they aren't expressing themselves the same way, that they don't feel it as strongly. You're right...I am walking a thin line of judgement.

I guess it is just a fear I have that a lot of people are intentionally avoiding acknowledging any of it because they have not developed the coping skills and that when our own society is faced with a similar situation, the outcome is going to be very, very different than what we are seeing in Japan.

Maybe that is what this comes down to. My own fear.

Thank you.

reply to post by gallopinghordes


I'm so sorry. I hope you hear from them soon. I can't imagine. That helpless feeling is the worst. I just don't know what to do for them either other than pray.

Originally posted by westcoast
You are absolutely right. I believe you are a very wise person.

I can see how by assuming there is something wrong with the people experiencing different emotions or reactions than myself, could be a pitfall. I am making the assumption that because they aren't expressing themselves the same way, that they don't feel it as strongly. You're right...I am walking a thin line of judgement.

I guess it is just a fear I have that a lot of people are intentionally avoiding acknowledging any of it because they have not developed the coping skills and that when our own society is faced with a similar situation, the outcome is going to be very, very different than what we are seeing in Japan.

Maybe that is what this comes down to. My own fear.

Thank you.

You are very open-minded and honest, OP. A lot of things are true and that's one of them.

Originally posted by westcoast
reply to post by gallopinghordes

 

I just don't know what to do for them other than pray.

That's all you can do. I don't think they would ask for suffering, ya know?

reply to post by westcoast


Thank you, but as the hours pass I and many others have to accept that we may not hear from the ones we care about. I think I shall plant a weeping cherry tree in my yard to remember those that died. I've always said even if I knew the world would end tomorrow I'd plant a tree today. My friends would appreciate it, in death there is always life.

Originally posted by gallopinghordes
My friends would appreciate it, in death there is always life.

I know we're not supposed to waste space with short posts, but "that's a good one" or...that's a hard one..

Well here is a report from Japan - picked up today from another forum
Let's take a moment to realise that we aren't even seeing everything.
I think this deserves posing in its entirety.

source

"News directly from Japan.

Wife and her entire company met with one of their employee who's family lived in Onagawacho. The city was hit with a 20 meter tsunami Friday. Fortunately his family survived and he is planning to go back to Japan somehow and help his people.

The Japanese news is not showing the worst of the devastation to their own people. There are literaly tens of thousands of people laying dead in the rubble still.

Many, many hamlets and villages have not been reached yet. People, including small children are freezing and starving to death in the snow which is falling today. Food is extremely short. Roads non existant. Train lines are completely wrecked into these areas. No water. No power. No way to get out.

Tokyo's power was blacked out today, and power reserves were diverted up to the nothern prefectures. This is why Tokyo is desereted--becasue many, many business are closed down. Power to trains was also cut short, and schedules abreviated.

The rich are abandoning Tokyo by the droves. They are hiring private jets, boats and other means of transport to get out of Dodge while the getting is good. Foreigners are packing the airports also trying to get out of Japan. Most foreign embassies are packing up and heading south to Osaka.

The stores in the Kanto plain are stripped bare. Bags of rice cannot be purchased (main staple). Bottled water and the means to store water (juggs, etc.) are gone.

The general mood is extremely grim and fearful. The full extent of the disaster has not truly been presented to the Japanese people as a whole. Emperor Heisei addressed the nation--this is not something that happens often. All the governmental beurocracies are in full FUBAR mode now... as witnessed by the helicopters dropping water upon the reactors.

I would say that this was done simply because something visible needed to be done for the TV cameras--it did little good if you watched the vids, because the water just dispersed like they were dropping water on a brush fire.

My family there is now considering the thought of coming to California or our Nevada place should a full SHTF scenario take place in the next few days. To abandon the homeland is an unthinkable thought--and many people are starting to think this way at the moment.

Should the reactors continue to meltdown--about 30% of Japan would possibly become uninhabitable. And of course because all of the water supply comes out of the mountains (Japan is a very wet place), all of the water supply in Northen Japan would become contaminated very quickly.
Not to mention the loss of the very little farmable land they possess up there, and the valuable fishing grounds that would be contaminated for decades.
Nearly every able bodied person wants to pitch in somehow and help out in this disaster--but there is not many avenues in which someone can actually help out there not (other than to contribute money). Frustration is building. You are not seeing half of the disaster on TV or in the print news. The reporters are only in the main areas that have some access still, and they are not in the heavily hit rural areas in which there literarly schools full of children standing upon rooftops starving and freezing on some places. Hundreds and hundreds of bodies continue to wash up, and they are showing up way out to sea and along the current routes. There is no way they can be cremated (the traditional Japanese way), the facilities are wreck and those that still remain are working overtime processing the dead.

Yes, there were times that I teared up really bad. I saw a photo of a young woman by herself save for the destruction around her. She had no shoes, no jacket, no hat or scarf and she was crying bitterly.
For a time I was homeless with my 3 Cats - for nine months we lived in a van.. half of that time it was winter outside and even with the provisions I did have, I struggled to keep us warm and safe (food for us was not really a problem, although keeping the water liquid could be a challenge at times) and compared to the people in Japan, my situation was ideal.
Once you have been homeless, it is something you NEVER, EVER forget.
I can empathize with homeless ANYWHERE in the world.
The people of Japan will emerge from this tragedy, as did myself and my Cats..but it will take time and work.
They are taught to be patient, so that is half the battle.
Despite the destruction, regardless of the level of it one must be determined to emerge from it and be willing do do the work necessary to acheive that end.
In the meantime though, it can be a real b@#%$ let me tell you.

Peace

Originally posted by 1ifbyland2ifbydebitcard

Originally posted by HADOUKEN
I think many humans are a waste of the air they breathe. There are too many humans on this planet that should not survive, yet they do.

And some who perish deserve life, but can you give it to them?

To Hadouken:
For all of the ones that you think should not survive remember there are also those who think you shouldn't either

you are not alone. I experienced the san fernando quake in s calif about 40 yrs ago and the nor cal loma prieta quake, so these things naturally make me nervous. I didn't cry until yesterday, they showed a shelter and these japanese kids held up a sign that said "please help us", that got me crying.

take some breaks and don't dwell on this too much, you are not alone, I hope this makes you feel a little better

West,

Ya I have. And I'm glad I took a whole day to do it. It felt great. I took a whole day just to put it be hind me.
I recorded that here. I must say it hasn't been easy living up to the discipline. Fought back the tears since then a couple times. It's the images of the children that I find hard to cope with. If I let go of the disipline I've set for myself. Then I risk losing it completely and I just can't afford that. At any cost.

Originally posted by B.Morrison

Originally posted by kauskau
reply to post by westcoast

 

my god..stop being so proud of yourself cause u can feel emotions about the disaster..yes there are people that are not crying ....there are thousands of reasons for that...

people like u go on my nerves (accept that not everyone is like u..and stop being vain about ur sympathy)

you have totally missed the point. Either you feel compassion or you don't, its not about crying.

imho if you don't feel compassion for a suffering human then you have forgotten your own humanity.

-B.M

B.M. is correct that it wasn't my point...but I certainly understand now how you took it that way.

I apologize if I seemed to be boasting about myself and belittleing someone else for not feeling the same way. Irregardless of my intent, if it is taken that way, there is a reason for it. I am sorry.



As to the above linked article. I think that any of us who were watching the live feed of the tsunami washing over the houses/cars/people......knew that tens of thousands of people had just died.

That children are stranded and starving/freezing right now...it is unbearable.

the thing is...i find that whole thing terrible. But i dont feel it. I don´t feel it very much. I don´t know why. But thats the way it is. But i dont judge myself for that. Why should i.

In my personal gnosis, it is my belief that the tears and heartbreak we feel are the tears those lost cannot shed, and those who survived have not been yet able.