"With everything going on in Japan, its hard to believe that it's just a regular Friday night where we are. We're just sitting here eating pizza. It makes me feel bad."
As I climb the bluffs, I think about what my sister in law said when we spoke last night. When I reach the top, I see surfers crowded in the water at Sunset Beach. Perhaps competing for some tail end of tsunami swells?
The sun shines over the Pacific as I settle on a bench. Images of wreckage knock around my head. And that shaking. That shaking that one report said lasted for five minutes. I jitter just thinking of the 20 seconds of rolling in LA last Easter. I can't fathom how scary five minutes would be.
A couple walks their dog behind me. Some guy on the bluff above shouts into his cell phone about a producer who "knows everything but knows nothing." Families play on the beach below.
It's a normal day in LA.
Writing a normal question, when in many parts of the world nothing is normal, doesn't feel good. So I figure we should address the mess head on.
How do natural disasters, like the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, make you feel?
xoxo,
Suzanne
About Me
- Suzanne Casamento
- Author of Fingerprints, Choosing Tally, and All the Moments in Between. Tweet me @suzannecasamento
First heartbreak, then helpless. But then there is a point however, when my faith in humanity is restored. I've witnessed it first-hand after a large tornado went through my hometown, and also after the week-long icestorm here, people helping people in ways you don't see everyday.
ReplyDeleteQueasy. Sad. Hopeless. I'm afraid I have to battle heavy emotion. I suppose on the good side that means I'm sensitive and compassionate, but it can knock the knees out from under me. This particular disaster is so apocalpytic that it's worse than usual.
ReplyDeleteExtraordinary efforts to help made by others always helps restore hope. People are pretty amazing, really.
The admission we humans pay for being on this beautiful, living planet is that when she stretches and yawns we suffer. I doubt there is any place that is free of some sort of natural danger. Hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes...Being human we live where we want to and must deal with consequences. We are resilient that way. That said...I have not been able to watch the news, hurts too much.
ReplyDeleteSad, upset, praying for those affected. Makes the mlk earthquake of 1994, seem like a picnic in the san fernando valley.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter did some research last year in her science class and apparently the east side of Canada is the safest place in the world to live as far as natural disasters are concerned.
ReplyDeleteYou're right it feels a bit uncomfortable just having a normal day when such a tragedy is going on.
Makes me feel ashamed of complaining about our cold weather. Japan has suffered a disaster beyond comprehension.
ReplyDeleteIt's surreal. Our world is small, but still full of space between people.
ReplyDeleteShocked at nature's power and our vulnerability to her rumblings. It's pretty humbling.
ReplyDeleteHeartbroken, humbled ... and with the realization that it can happen to any of us. Nothing else seems that big of a deal right now. :(
ReplyDelete