Japan

I'd like to thank Marny Kennedy for her own personal blog 'blimey teddy'. Her words are really beautiful and inspirational so I thought if she could write one, so could I. It seems like a nice place to start if you have something you would like to express and I seem to have quite a lot to say today.

First off, I'd like to admit that I haven't really paid that much attention to Japan and their recent earthquake. But after catching a glimpse of, to put it as it is, heartbreaking picture of a Japanese woman clutching on to her daughter as tightly as she could, it suddenly dawned on me that what is happening there is real and we cannot escape it. So many people have lost their lives and may they rest in peace from this day on. I also noticed that the woman is crying and for the first time in my life I finally realised that other people feel emotion too. Too many people, who find themselves on the news due to natural disasters, be it Japan or Haiti, show so little emotion that it almost appears as if they expected it to happen. And I used to unconsciously believe that was because it was true and that so much happens to them that they have lost the will to be emotional. But how wrong I am. I have learned that people simply show their emotions in their own, personal way. And I admire the people that feel their emotions but have the strength to hold it together for the sake of others. Its amazing. How do they do it? But now I'm going to totally contradict myself by saying that I have also learned that those of us who do show our emotions are the strong ones because we allow ourselves to let part of what we feel go. Crying is good. It releases something that needs to be released. I know that by keeping in emotion, because you have no idea how to escape it, only causes far deeper problems in the future. I think its important that we learn to understand this because it must help everyone in some way. The weak ones are those who refuse to let their emotions out but dont accept, or admit, that by doing so they are not getting any better - the ones who tell others they are weak or pathetic if they cry. The ones who mock others for doing something admirable...... Maybe I am wrong but this is what I have come to recognise in our society today.

This earthquake in Japan also made me wonder, whilst I was sat waiting for my exam to finish, why on earth Edexcel insists on asking me about my interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. Surely they should be asking me about how I want to help the less fortunate or what I have done to help others in the world? There I was, sat in a silent exam room, twiddling my thumbs because I'd finished explaining how I wanted Juliet to be played by a young girl, whilst a poor old Japanese woman is taking every breath with absolute gratifacation because she is alive and she has been saved. The air that we breathe is taken for granted too much and from now on, every time I step out of my front foor, I'm going to take one long, deep breath and thank whoever is up there for my being alive. I know that sometimes we don't feel alive and we feel like we have no way to escape a tricky situation, hence the rates of suicide in more fortunate countries. We take everything for granted so much so that the smallest problem can be mistaken for a giant mountain of which we cannot move. The people in third world countries are so happy and upbeat because they take every moment with an ocean full of thankfullness that we have simply forgotten about.

So to you, Japan, and to whoever is up there, please, please, please allow them to feel contentment once more - as much as you can - and please let them have their homeland back. No more lives need to be taken. Mother Nature, you have made your point. Enough.