Mother Nature Shrugs, and Japan's In The Way

Well, I had planned to whip off a rant or two here, or throw in some reflections about how the U.S. Postal System is it's own worst enemy, or talk about two ladies I know who are 92 years old - and I may yet.

For now...I am just blown away by the videos and pictures coming out of Japan after the earthquake and tsunami.  Yes, it's happened before in Southeast Asia, but there was almost no video coverage at the time.  We really only saw the heart-rending aftermath. 

Today, people took realtime images of the earthquake's effects whilst it was happening, and watched the actual tsunami as it made its initial incursion into Japan.  (Yes, initial.  Like earthquakes, there can be "after" waves as well.)

We actually see a ship caught in a gigantic ocean whirlpool, we see cars and trucks attempting to drive away from the onrushing water, only to be overtaken, and swallowed.  We see a violently swollen river filled with innumerable cars as they tumble along like toys in the rushing water.   We see enormous fields of floating debris including trees, cars, trucks, broken houses burning as they are pushed along by tsunami waters.  The scale of the devastation is damn near impossible to comprehend.  What's even sadder, is to know - logically - that too tiny to see amongst all the debris and the water - there are people there.  Or at least there were people there.  For those caught in the tsunami's torrent, I hope it was a quick ending. 

Japan has been deeply struck. However, they are an amazingly resilient people.  They managed to come back from the Atomic Bombs that the United States dropped on them in World War II.  Today, they have the technology, the know-how, the history and the resilience to survive if Nature allows them to do so.  My heart goes out to them.  I wish them well.