I received this in my e-mail yesterday and it got me thinking about how we live our lives?
Lessons for Life from Japan
1. CALM Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.
2. DIGNITY Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.
3. ABILITY The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.
4. GRACE People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.
5. ORDER No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.
6. SACRIFICE Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the Nuclear reactors. How will they ever be repaid?
7. TENDERNESS Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.
8. TRAINING The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.
9. MEDIA They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.
10. CONSCIENCE When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly
Would I have behaved like this? If not why not?
We often see stereotypical cartoons poking fun at unidentified Asian people yet in the midst of what must be the most horrific upheaval of their society they are clearly thinking of others before themselves.
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