While the recent earthquake in Christchurch was certainly bad, the devastation and suffering in Japan are literally mind-numbing, a reminder that nature can be cruel on an immense scale. And the tsunami damage spreading across the Pacific should be a warning to all of us that we do not live in isolated little pockets but in a world in which water, earth and air are all interconnected. What affects one part of the web of life affects us all.
I am reminded of John Donne’s Meditations:
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
As this terrible bell tolls, we must keep our fellow citizens of this earth in mind, in our hearts and in our prayers.
Twitter: JanBytesmiths.com
says:
Keep in mind that, no matter how many bananas you eat or chest x-rays you get, there is no known safe dose of radiation.
If any good can come of such a disaster, let’s hope it’s a nail in the coffin of the nuclear power industry.
There *is* a relatively safe distance to be from a nuclear power plant: 92 million miles! And even then, it can give you skin cancer if you aren’t careful.