My day today

My family and I went to survey the damage from yesterdays tsunami, through crescent city. We decided that most of the damage would be down towards downtown and the harbor area, where Beach front Park, the Cultural Center and the Recreation Center, among the other civic public buildings, i.e. the library...
I have to admit, for the damage that was reported, what greeted us was nothing worse than what we had created in our own imaginations. I pictured the harbor with just the tops of boats peaking through the water surface, what I found instead was heart breaking.
We started our photographic journey from the west end of the park, by the pier. There were whole pieces of dock down below the light house, pieces about 6 to 8 ft long. Large styrofoam blocks were tossed everywhere and were being used by various sea birds as perches. Sand, gravel, rocks and drift wood littered the sidewalks, and one lone yellow sail boat, lay on it's side at the other end of the beach, being the only large thing that looks like anything but a strong wave carried it to its final resting place. The water from the surges didn't seem to have gone as far as the grass on the opposite side of the parking lot.
One could not really tell there was a tsunami here, until they reach the harbor, and find evidence of a violent happening there.




As I walked along the docks, taking pictures, I realized that around every boat was a another boat sometimes two, with only their bows pointing skyward, that reminds us they were even there, to begin with. Large boats were wedged up against smaller boats, most of the larger boats didn't appear to have any outward evidence of damage, but that is not to say there wasn't any. The truth be told, the harbor looks like a floating trash heap of Styrofoam, paper, and more Styrofoam. The boats are heart breaking until one realizes that not all the boats were lost on accident. Many boats were deliberately left in the water, for reasons I refuse to even speculate on. But there they were, laying on the bottom of the harbor like unwanted dolls thrown away because of a childish temper tantrum. Then it dawned on me, we were so totally blessed and spared a major killing force, that Japan did not get the luxury of escaping.

Our losses are minimal compared to the thousands of lives lost, alone in Japan, two nights ago. Forget the wreckage of a city that once was, it will never be again, forget about the fact that millions and millions of dollars will be spent to rebuild , forget about all of that, that is not important, our earth shifted on its axis and now Japan is 8 feet farther than it use to be. And they are dealing with a nuclear reactor that has already had one explosion and a melt down is almost imminent. What is so special about this country full of spoiled rotten people, who always get what they want and cry because they broke a nail? How did we escape this terrible disaster, with only one life lost? We are not blessed by God, this country is a Godless nation, the only god we really worship is that almighty dollar and how many of them we can stick in our wallets before the next guy gets it. Yet, here we sit in our homes, comfy and cozy, crying over a few lost boats.
Imagine, the scenes in the pictures above, a thousand times worse. That is what we escaped, on March 11, 2011. Blessed? Not exactly, because we are in the direct path of the poisonous air that is headed our way from the explosion at the nuclear plant yesterday. We may have escaped the tsunami, but will we escape the deadly effects of nuclear air headed our way on the winds? What will be the result? Did we really escape anything or did we just postpone our imminent demise for a few days? Are we starting to see what is really important, or what should be important? Or are we still being self-centered and selfish? Do we really need these huge fancy houses and cars that take us from point A to point B two blocks from our house? Do we really need another fast food joint? Do we really need prestige and kudos from people around us just to validate our sorry exsistance and give us an excuse to continue on with our selfish pride? Maybe we should really look at what is important and bow our heads in shame and disgust with ourselves for being so self-centered.
For an ungrateful nation, we need to learn to be grateful for everything we have and don't have, if we don't have it then apparently we don't need it. We are a godless nation, who has turned its back on the one and only Creator of this world, and we have spit in his face and passed ourselves off as the white knight in shining armor, pretending to care just to make people like us and trust us.

If you didn't pull your boat out of the water intentionally, yesterday, figuratively and in reality, that is on you. For the rest of those who look around and are grateful for what they have and weep for those who weep, may God bless you for the intentions of your hearts and may he bring comfort and peace to those who are waiting to hear from loved ones in Japan.