Life of Wry

The destruction from this tsunami is just mind-boggling.

This is a photo of my computer screen, of a video shot and uploaded to Facebook by a guy who’s in Japan, standing on the landing of a building surrounded by raging, rising water.  There. Coverage of the tsunami is NOT brought to you by any commercial sponsor.  It’s just like there–video shot by that guy.  The whole thing becomes a far more raw and human experience, and the tragedy more knowable.  I just can’t imagine it.  But this guy’s in the moment video helps in a big way.

Another thing about news distributed through social media… it becomes such a shared experience.  As people witness and share and respond and converse, there is this sense of collective shock and collective grief.  It’s pretty interesting to be readily in touch with so many others who are learning about and processing the information right along with you, which makes it all the more real and personal.  Nevermind that news travels faster and is less edited.

Anyway..it’s all pretty amazing.

I heard a statistic this morning about the deaths in just one part of the affected area–the toll was estimated at over 10,000… TEN THOUSAND.  And that’s just from earthquake and tsunami damage–collapsing buildings and unrelenting water.  No way to know yet the impact of the damage to nuclear power plants and the effects of radiation, both short term and long term.

So sad.

We can keep the people of Japan in our thoughts and not forget that there are now a whole lot of people whose lives will never, ever be the same.  They are not going about their daily lives like they were a few days ago, not like us, whose lives are not affected at all.  We can remember that.  It’s also good to remember how delicate and fragile it all is.

And then there’s Haiti, and Katrina, and of course others.

So, hold people in your thoughts.  I guess that’s what we can do.  Help as needed.  And be grateful.  We’re ridiculously lucky.

Anyway, sorry.  Not a lecture.  Speaking for myself.  Just trying to get my thoughts around it all.