Grace under pressure

Are you also moved by the human stories emerging from Japan?  People who’ve lived through and earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear tragedy, days of no power, few supplies, a lot of uncertainty.  There are devastated communities who have lost everything but continue with such grace and dignity that it almost hurts to see it.  There are more tears and railing to be heard in the average TV reality show than there is from the news footage coming out of this suffering country.

This is one of those dreaded email lists which appeared in my inbox - but match it up with the pics on tv:

10 things to learn from Japan – While they, as a nation, are still trying to cope with their biggest national disaster since the Word War-II.

1. THE CALM

Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated..

2. THE DIGNITY

Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY

The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE

People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER

No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE

Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water out of the N-reactors and never came back home. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS

Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING

The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do during the earthquake. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA

They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly / exaggerated reports. Only calm reporting of facts.

10. THE CONSCIENCE

When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly…

And spare a thought too for the 50 core workers who kept working at the nuclear power plant at Fukushima despite enormous personal danger.  They bowed politely and said goodbye to their families before going to work for the good of the country.  How many of us would do that?