News from Japan

Yesterday was your typical Friday morning for me.  I got up later than usual (the perks of getting to wear jeans to work on Friday) and turned on Full House while I was getting ready.  Most mornings I switch between the news and reruns of Full House, but this morning all I decided to watch was the awesomeness that is 90's TV.  It was the episode where Uncle Jesse and Joey began their advertising careers--a milestone for the Tanner household.

Instead of listening to morning news shows on my short drive to work, I plugged in some Needtobreathe and kicked it with some funk all the way to school.

When I got to school, someone mentioned what had happened over night in Japan and, instead of opening my mouth and sounding totally out of touch (which I was), I just sat back and nodded as I listened.  Excusing myself from the conversation, I went back to my classroom and immediately logged online to see the devastation and destruction that had taken over Japan while we were sleeping.



After watching about 12 seconds of the news story, my heart dropped as I thought of my student from last year who moved back to Japan in June.  Ryo was born in Japan and moved to the United States when he was 3.  He had been in South Carolina for the past 6 years, and was the perfect student.  He was motivated, hard working, easy to work with anyone in the class, smart, and had a great personality.  He was one of the most loved students in my class last year by everyone.



Good decision?



Haha..I think not :)





 

Tears filled my eyes as I saw cars and boats being tossed like toys, children and adults clinging to whatever they could find, and mass chaos sweeping the nation.  I literally was in shock because I knew that Ryo had to be impacted by this and I knew his father works in Tokyo.

My prayers went up after the moment of fear for his family, and I sent them an email as quickly as I could to hear from them.

Within the hour, a parent of one of the other students in my class last year contacted me to say that Ryo's family was all safe.  That afternoon, I finally heard back from Ryo's mom and here is her sweet (and heartbreaking) email that she sent me:

Ms.Baxter

Thank you for your mail.
I am so glad to get your mail.
We are fine.
It was so scary!!
I never have had such a terrible earthquake.
Yokohama isn't close to Miyagi.
But the house shook so much.
All furniture didn't fall down in my house.
On that time Ryo were in school.
The school is the safest place.
I went to pick him up by walk.

My husband went back to home from his office(center of Tokyo)
by walk.It took 5 and half hours.
He was so tired ,but was fine.

Many small earthquakes are still happening.
We hope it will stop soon.

Thank you again,

We miss you!
We would like to go back to SC!

When devastating things happen in the world, I am quick to feel compassion for the people of that country, but truthfully I am just as quick to move past it and forget.  When the earthquake hit Haiti, I was burdened and saddened by the situation there.  I contributed financially to an organization to help the efforts of people working to rebuild their country.  Then, I got caught back up in my life, and have rarely thought of them since. How selfish is that?  What a sad thing to admit.

I think when things happen and you have a personal connection to the tragedy (like Ryo's family), you are less likely to forget.  That personal connection means that you are more invested and have more of an interest in what is going to happen next.

Shouldn't we all be connected to the tragedies that take place across the world because it affects us in some way?  We are all people.  We are all suffering.  We are all in chaos.  We all are in need of rescue.  That right there should connect us and create a sense of responsibility to each other.

Just something to think about.

Peace and blessings.