World Peace

Three days ago, on Friday, March 11, 2011, at around 2:45 pm (in Japan) a huge and strong 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurred right off the east coast of Honshu, Japan. Shortly thereafter, a 30' tsunami rushed nearly 6 miles inland destroying everything in its path. Houses were literally picked up from their foundation and carried away. Planes, cars, trucks, boats, some still on fire, (not to mention the countless number of lives that were simply swept away) littered the tsunami flood and pummeled inland at a force that no one could reckon with.

The images and videos that we've seen since then are devastating. The destruction that was caused with the mighty earth rumbling and subsequent rush of ocean water coming ashore is indescribable. Where there were once cities and towns, there is now nothing. Families are torn apart, thousands are still missing, nuclear power plants are at risk of exploding and releasing noxious gases into the air and on our earth. The earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on Japan, and it will be years before we will even be able to comprehend the extent of this disaster.

When something of this scale happens, we are all reminded that we are but a small component of this earth, of this universe, and that life is an extremely precious gift.

When something of this scale happens, we are also brought together.

Countries unite to help those involved in the tragedy, and aid is accepted. People come together to help those that are searching for family members, those that are homeless, those that still hanging on to their precious lives. It makes the wars in Iraq and the Middle East, the uproar in Libya, and the increasing gas prices all seem irrelevant, at least for a short while.

It's unfortunate that it takes a catastrophe to bring us, as a world, together, and even then we are not really 100% together.

I understand that not everyone feels this way, but I kind of feel like asking, 'why can't we all just get along?' We are shaming our kindergarten rules.

We live on this Earth together. We need to work together to stay alive. We need to work together to have a future. But as easy as it is to say and comprehend it is much, much more difficult to achieve. Sometimes nearly impossible it seems.

Having not experienced such a destructive nightmare, I cannot imagine what the people in Japan are going through, but my hopes, my thoughts, and my prayers go out to everyone affected. The inspiring stories of rescue and survival have brightened the recently dimmed light. I hope that there are many, many more survivors out there just waiting to be found.

And I hope that we can continue to work together to rescue these fortunate people.