Monday, May 9, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A Reflection on RELIEF’s Recent Japan Visit
Radiation Diaries
If I were to tell you to imagine a world surrounded by radiation… what would it look like? Close your eyes – what is the first picture you see?
Is it one that is predominantly green and “radioactive?” Does a neon glow surround a picture of darkness, dread, and decay? Is it the genesis or subject of what disfigured zombie like mutants in every horror film come from? Or maybe it is just darkness and nothing that just seems scary?
Invisible, odorless, quiet, and impossible to detect (without obnoxiously loud beeping machines) - radiation is truly scary – but what does it look like?
Over the past several weeks, while preparing for our RELIEF trip to Japan, panic seemed to be the first emotion I encountered from individuals upon first hearing about our intentions to travel abroad. Of course concern was out of love and the second emotion was constantly found to take the shape of support. A ‘C’ student in high school chemistry, my network’s nervous apprehensions certainly caused much concern and even slight hesitation for my travels.
As friends and others dropped from the trip – I was pressed to take Potassium Iodine Pills, Drops, and extreme precaution. I saw radiation as an evil evil creation – something as dark as any nightmare I ever had as a child.
However, upon my arrival to what the media and world have painted as a disaster beyond almost all disasters - this is what I found radiation to actually look like:
Japan was beautiful!
You should all know that currently radiation is not as large of a threat as it seems – nor is it anything like I am sure you imagine it to be.
Of course radiation is not contagious and actually, an unforeseen consequence of the Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Disaster Japan is facing is that people of Japan are actually beginning to discriminate those from the region facing the crisis. Japanese children and families are being told to ‘go away’ as many in Japan fear that a segment of the population is now tainted. This ‘Fukoshima Discrimination’ is only insult to injury to the innocent bystanders of these awful events. Like what happened with AIDS in the late 80’s I can only hope that this is just a ridiculous fad.
Radiation aside - The RELIEF Foundation is certainly one that carries a lot of risk. Maybe we may have just missed the bullet? Maybe we play with fire and will eventually get burned? (Lord knows Steve Erwin The Croc. Hunter did). But some risks are worth taking and RELIEF is one of them.
- We changed lives and even changed Japanese individuals perceptions of Americans. One of the directors of the Nakoso Relief Center stated how his team never imagined that Americans could ever be comforting, kind, and ‘feel like family’. By the end of the trip they even considered some of us: ‘Honorably Tired.’
RELIEF reminds us how lucky we are. RELIEF forces us to love those who love us more than we already do.
RELIEF makes us… us. Reminders that new scents, sounds, and senses are what make life so special.
RELIEF is proof that it feels good to do good.
Sure, anything could have happened - another earthquake could have caused the unstable situation to grow worse, another tsunami could have swallowed us, and an unanticipated meteor could have struck somewhere in Latin America and sent us the way of the dinosaur. But just like Haiti – we were fortunate to see nothing of the sort. Well, we did experience a couple aftershocks, but they were actually part of what made the experience so remarkable
I’ll laugh-off the questions of ‘did you grow an extra toe’ and ‘is there an eye on your elbow now?’ – I assure you, I’m fine. Though wouldn’t it be cool to have Super Powers… maybe on our next trip!
You should join us :)
If I were to tell you to imagine a world surrounded by radiation… what would it look like? Close your eyes – what is the first picture you see?
Is it one that is predominantly green and “radioactive?” Does a neon glow surround a picture of darkness, dread, and decay? Is it the genesis or subject of what disfigured zombie like mutants in every horror film come from? Or maybe it is just darkness and nothing that just seems scary?
Invisible, odorless, quiet, and impossible to detect (without obnoxiously loud beeping machines) - radiation is truly scary – but what does it look like?
Over the past several weeks, while preparing for our RELIEF trip to Japan, panic seemed to be the first emotion I encountered from individuals upon first hearing about our intentions to travel abroad. Of course concern was out of love and the second emotion was constantly found to take the shape of support. A ‘C’ student in high school chemistry, my network’s nervous apprehensions certainly caused much concern and even slight hesitation for my travels.
As friends and others dropped from the trip – I was pressed to take Potassium Iodine Pills, Drops, and extreme precaution. I saw radiation as an evil evil creation – something as dark as any nightmare I ever had as a child.
However, upon my arrival to what the media and world have painted as a disaster beyond almost all disasters - this is what I found radiation to actually look like:
Japan was beautiful!
You should all know that currently radiation is not as large of a threat as it seems – nor is it anything like I am sure you imagine it to be.
Of course radiation is not contagious and actually, an unforeseen consequence of the Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Disaster Japan is facing is that people of Japan are actually beginning to discriminate those from the region facing the crisis. Japanese children and families are being told to ‘go away’ as many in Japan fear that a segment of the population is now tainted. This ‘Fukoshima Discrimination’ is only insult to injury to the innocent bystanders of these awful events. Like what happened with AIDS in the late 80’s I can only hope that this is just a ridiculous fad.
Radiation aside - The RELIEF Foundation is certainly one that carries a lot of risk. Maybe we may have just missed the bullet? Maybe we play with fire and will eventually get burned? (Lord knows Steve Erwin The Croc. Hunter did). But some risks are worth taking and RELIEF is one of them.
- We changed lives and even changed Japanese individuals perceptions of Americans. One of the directors of the Nakoso Relief Center stated how his team never imagined that Americans could ever be comforting, kind, and ‘feel like family’. By the end of the trip they even considered some of us: ‘Honorably Tired.’
RELIEF reminds us how lucky we are. RELIEF forces us to love those who love us more than we already do.
RELIEF makes us… us. Reminders that new scents, sounds, and senses are what make life so special.
RELIEF is proof that it feels good to do good.
Sure, anything could have happened - another earthquake could have caused the unstable situation to grow worse, another tsunami could have swallowed us, and an unanticipated meteor could have struck somewhere in Latin America and sent us the way of the dinosaur. But just like Haiti – we were fortunate to see nothing of the sort. Well, we did experience a couple aftershocks, but they were actually part of what made the experience so remarkable
I’ll laugh-off the questions of ‘did you grow an extra toe’ and ‘is there an eye on your elbow now?’ – I assure you, I’m fine. Though wouldn’t it be cool to have Super Powers… maybe on our next trip!
You should join us :)
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