The New York Times has before and after pictures, these types of photo assemblies always please me, today they opened my heart. Northern Japan satellite photos comparing April 2010 to March 2011. They made me understand in a 3 dimensional way what the people of Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and now Japan have faced and are now facing. When I say 3 dimensional what I mean is intellectual astonishment, emotional compassion and now the added sense of the physical. My body literally hurts for these people. I feel the fear that such devastation can cause. I am not there but I am there.
Oddly enough I am not running around trying to figure what to do to help. My first reaction to a disaster anywhere. No, I am sitting here trying to go into to the feelings, the sensations to appreciate what it takes to survive this kind of event.
A friend here on island received an email from a friend in Japan. He requested our prayers but he also requested we hold the appreciation and the love of the lives we lead every day in our hearts. He requested we love now. We live now.
That I get to hear my dog Molly snoring on the couch, to think about the weddings that need attention, to excitedly pull stuff to pack as I go on vacation I am once more reminded that my life is so very blessed. It is a fragile life that can be taken away in the blink of an eye, the shake of the earth but for right now, my gratitude is what I have to offer. It is humbling.