A People to Admire

As anyone that has a radio, television or is able to read a newspaper knows last week the nation of Japan was struck with an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale and numerous after shocks. If this wasn’t bad enough this quake was followed shortly thereafter by a devastating tsunami. These twin disasters have, as of 3/15/11, killed a confirmed total of 3,373 people with the death toll rising every day. Estimates are that the total killed could be more than 20,000. Along with these natural disasters is a potential disaster of melt downs in nuclear power plants. Millions of people are now homeless where whole towns have been washed away.

How have the Japanese people responded to what has happened to them? How are they dealing with the shortage of housing, food and fuel? Well the answer as of this writing is remarkable. I have not seen, heard or read about any civil unrest in Japan. While I am not surprised by this I have to express my heartfelt admiration of the Japanese people. While I would hope that if a disaster of this magnitude were to have occurred in the United States the people of this country would respond similarly I have extreme doubts this would happen. I have good reason for my doubt. Do you recall what happened after hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. gulf coast? If you need a reminder take a look at this video. Post Katrina Looting  As Carl Quintanilla noted even those charged with preventing this from happening were involved in the looting. He said they were police, but to me they looked like they were security guards Regardless of whether they were police or rent-a-cops doesn’t make a difference. Their behavior was just plain wrong, and they knew better. I would ask that you compare that behavior with this report from the 3/15/11 airing of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Extraordinary Resilience (you have to watch the commercial before the story) A stunning difference, don’t you think? We should all strive to follow the examples the Japanese people have displayed.