Reality Check

On the books today: a little more serious post that’s actually NOT about me, well not really….

I’ve had some rough days in the past couple weeks.  I’ve been anxious, sad, happy, worried, and a bunch of other emotions.  I sound a little crazy when I put it this way, but there is a point to this.

I like to keep up-to-date on current events because I think it’s important to understand what’s going on in the world and to have a focal point other than myself.  Obviously the tragedies in Japan have been flooding the news lately.  It’s amazing what these people have been through, first the earthquake, then a tsunami, and now issues with radiation.  They don’t know if they can trust the news they’re hearing and who can blame them?  Today I’m tired, have a headache, and have so many things running through my mind.  But, the point is that this doesn’t even begin to compare with the devastation these people are going through.  At the end of the day I go home to my house, husband, puppy, and know that my family and friends are safe and tomorrow will be a new day.  I can catch up on my sleep, take something for the headache, and I know that my small worries will work themselves out.  It’s heartbreaking to watch videos, to see the numbers of dead and missing growing too quickly, and to consider the emotional toll of losing even one loved one.

This weekend was a great weekend for me and I’ll be blogging about that later, but when I logged online this morning to check on the latest in Japan it hit me that I was so lucky to be able to take a “break” from the media’s depressing news stories.   How great it would be to take a break from anything bad in our lives.  These people cannot take a break from this though.  I watched a clip of a man in a shelter and thought about how different my life could be.  I can’t even imagine being in a shelter, knowing I had no home to return to.  I’m not even sure what you do all day.  I’m pretty sure I’d want to just sleep until it was all over.  I have days like that now and they’re pretty minimal.  Disasters are so devastating because they’re fast and unexpected.  At any time something like this can happen and shake us all out of our happy, safe, and too many times self-centered bubbles we live in. 

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook but this week I was fascinated with the comments posted concerning prayers for those in Japan, videos shared, the comments from people who have family and friends in Japan, and even Farmville’s encouragement of donating.  I guess it just reminded me that we’re all connected and we all have to look out for one another.  This tragedy hit Japan, Hawaii, and the West Coast, but it should affect all of us in the sense that we’re all mourning for those who lost their lives and the ones left behind who now have the responsibility of picking up the pieces.  We can all help in our own little ways.  While I know I can’t help literally pick up the pieces, I can donate and most of all I can always pray.  So last week, today, and for many days in the future, my heart and prayers go out to those who are dealing firsthand with this terrible disaster.  I hope we can all remember just how blessed we really are, even when it feels like the sky is falling down on our little world.