Monday, March 14, 2011

Count Your Blessings

This past week I was saddened to see that Japan had been hit by a severe earthquake and tsunami. As if they haven't experienced enough tragedy, now they have nuclear reactors which are overheating and threatening to spread radiation. This is a worse scenario than any sort of disaster movie Hollywood could come up with. If things haven't been bad enough, I learned that they've also just had a volcano erupt yesterday too. What's next, a hurricane?

All the disaster and suffering going on in Japan is tragic, but it is also said that it is so easy for me to decide to remove myself emotionally from this situation. I've got my own problems to worry about. I lost an hour of sleep yesterday! I just have to get through a day of work and then go home and have dinner and then decide what to watch on Netflix before I fall asleep in a warm bed. My problems don't seem so bad when they are compared to real problems.

It's easy to pretend this is just something that is happening to unfortunate people who live in a far away country. Today's technology reports news faster and makes the world a smaller place. It helps me realize that something like this could easily happen to our country too.

We might think there is nothing we can do to help relieve the suffering of people on the other side of the world, but we can help. Here's a link to the Red Cross. They are one of the more reputable  charitable organizations who assist with local, national, and world wide disaster relief efforts. Doing something as simple as making a donation to the relief efforts in that part of the world can make life a little better for someone who is suffering right now.

10 comments:

Kristina P. said...

I could have written this. My heart is breaking, but at the same time, I tend to be selfish and realize it didn't happen to me and move on.

I am looking into the various organizations to see how I can help.

Jeanne Estridge said...

Good post, Chaka.

Lisa Loo said...

Thanx for the link--I can never find one to donate to--this saved me at least an hour or 2!!

Tom said...

I'm always amazed at all the scan artists that show up after disasters who try to get money from people but they have no intention of getting it to those in need. That's one reason I like established organizations like The Red Cross.

Kelly said...

Thanks for the reminder. I have a special place in my heart for the Japanese. We visited Tokyo when we lived overseas. I have been thinking about what I can do. Thanks for the link.

Cheeseboy said...

I've donated. I am afraid that this will be an ongoing thing years from now because of all that radiation.

Crystal Pistol said...

Thank for this post. Selfishness comes naturally to me so it's nice to be reminded to get out of my own head and concern myself with others.

mCat said...

Great post! The church I belong to sends relief aid all over the world and of course much is now headed to Japan. I donate directly through them and cut down on the overhead.

In the end it doesn't matter how people chose to help, as long as we can recognize that others need us and we step in where we can, that's what's important.

And I have totally ditched netflix the last week while watching all the coverage. I can't make myself turn away

Saimi said...

It's very devastating and tragic, it's nice to know how we can help.

Nice job!

Dr Zibbs said...

So sad.