Monday, March 14, 2011

feeling quiet


As things go from bad to worse in Japan, I am feeling quiet. My heart aches for everyone involved.

It is hard to know how to help from such a great distance, but there are some small contributions one can make: the American Red Cross is accepting donations for earthquake relief, and Doctors Without Borders has already sent medical teams to the area.

I am sure there are others, so please feel free to add those in the comments section.

3 comments:

Emile de Bruijn said...

These images remind me of the sound of crows cawing, which you can often hear in those quiet places in Japan - and which you can hear again now in footage of the destroyed towns of Miyagi prefecture.

columnist said...

Your post is very appropriate. I wasn't sure what I could say, but have written something today, about the beautiful Ryōan-ji garden in Kyoto, which I visited some years ago with my better (Japanese) half (MBJH). We were just discussing it, and remarking how (eerily) it is almost representative of waters swirling; indeed MBJH said that's what the garden was all about.

The comfort we draw is the tranquility that this place exudes, and this comes back to me now. In spades.

Janet said...

Emile ~ I took these in Kyoto, on a very dark, rainy, February day. It was very quiet everywhere, which is why I thought of them when I wrote this post. I think crows would have been right at home.

columnist ~ Much of my time in Japan has been spent in the south. Kyoto, Osaka, that marvelous old grain warehouse town of Kurashiki. Like you I was struck by the garden at Ryoan-ji, the shifting sands, like shifting waters. Bordered by rich velvety moss.