beautiful japan

I have never felt such sadness and so connected to an event, external to my little world, before this past horrible week of events in my beloved adopted country, Japan. I am glued to the news reports and images, of the beautiful, devastated people, standing in lines for hours, feeling dazed and completely shattered by the loss of their lives, jobs, houses, friends and families yet remain incredibly dignified. The piles of lives once lived simply, in those small streets with sliding doors and no locks and pretty flowers, all smashed up and covered in broken pieces of everyone's private lives, now all mixed together, is hard to comprehend. I cant imagine the smell. I read an elderly lady had been interviewed and she had accepted that this is part of the cycle of life. How amazing, amongst all of this, to have such acceptance. The images of snow falling on the already broken communities is heartbreaking, photos of families discovering loved ones dead under piles of rubble make me cry with sadness. I can only feel empathy as I cant ever understand fully such a loss at such a scale. I feel so helpless and useless to return the generosity of help and support that I have, time and time again been shown by so many Japanese people. So I can only be so thankful that those that I care for are safe and unharmed, and keep my heart and mind on those who need all the kind thoughts and support they can get. Thoughts are nice but they cant provide any tangible help so I hope warmth, food and safety will come soon. Helpless.