When I awoke on March 12 and heard the news on the radio of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Northeastern Japan the previous day, I quickly rushed to my computer. I have found myself barely able to tear away from the YouTube videos of the tsunami wiping out villages, the photos, the reports, the stories, the Japanese live streaming news on their NHK English channel, and the many news sources reporting on the aftermath, from the terrifying situation with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to the displaced people to the economic ramifications, to the activists groups trying to help both people and animals in Japan. Each day I’ve thought to myself, How come I’m not blogging about this? And each day I’ve come up against the truth: I’m at a loss for what to write.

I have no suggestions; I have nothing of value to add. There is no link of relevance, at least not at this moment of crisis, to humane education and MOGO (most good) living, the subjects for which I advocate in our blog. I cannot recommend one particular aid source over another. I have no words to serve as a balm. Yet I feel compelled to write something, because to ignore this tragedy in the pages of our blog feels all wrong.

The Internet provides us with a new opportunity: to know about our extended family of fellow inhabitants of this beautiful planet; but what do we do with this knowledge? How do we do more than “know”? How do we do more than grieve? Certainly we can send money, which the Japanese people need, but what else? And even as Japan suffers, I’m aware that every day at least as many people die from poverty or preventable diseases as died in the tsunami, and many, many more are living desperate and horrifying lives as slaves or political prisoners or simply as women in the many places where misogyny is a way of life. Billions of animals are enduring nothing short of torture in our modern farms and through our various industries.

The plight of all these people and animals is as mundane as the rising sun in today’s world, and consequently, it doesn’t preoccupy most of us as this tragedy in Japan rightly does at this moment in time. But shouldn’t they all have their place in our hearts and minds? And if they should, then how? How do we carry such suffering, and what good can we then do with such knowledge? It is simply impossible to hold it all: the suffering in Japan at this moment, along with with the relentless daily suffering of so many, every day. We were not built to know this much, and yet our technology now enables it; and I believe that we mustn’t turn away.

And so, while I have no words of wisdom, I will make this plea: Along with the good things we do for our family and friends, can we each seek to do one thing each day to help another whom we do not know? Can each of us strive toward one small act of heroism – putting another before ourselves and perhaps at risk to ourselves – at least once each year? And can we each choose a goal, worthy of the gift of our life, toward which we will work in our lifetime to make this world better?

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm

Image courtesy Eastop.

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Filed under: citizen activism, compassion, heroes, mindfulness, MOGO (Most Good), responsibility | Tagged: Altruism, better world, citizen activism, compassion, cruelty, disasters, earthquakes, global issues, Japan, kindess, ordinary heroes, responsibility, suffering, tsunami | Comments Off