Small Strokes Big Oaks

This letter from a Sendai teacher gives me hope. My freshman year of high school, my English teacher refused to read Lord of the Flies with us because he couldn’t believe that, given the worst possible situation, humans would sink to the lowest in their behavior and be totally self-serving. With books like Hunger Games and The Road and looting and rioting going on around the world, it’s easy to believe we might just sink to the lowest of the low in the face of disaster. However, this teacher describes a “magnificent” community that survived last spring’s earthquake, and it truly is beautiful.

Here’s a little piece:

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.

Read more here.