In many ways, Tokyo is home. This is where I am most comfortable. Here, I am happy. I know the rules. The city recharges my battery. I love the crowds, trains, and the constant buzz the city offers. I walked around today and did last minute errands with my colleague as we prepare to head north tonight to Ohfunato. We will be riding the overnight bus for 10 hours. The scenery tomorrow will be entirely different than what I see today. I have no way to prepare to this other than to conjure up the photos I've seen from someone's camera lens.
Seeing the destruction in Ohfunato first-hand will be an entirely different kind of culture shock. This is a Japan I've never seen. This is pain, en masse, as I've never experienced it. Even the disaster relief workers who are there now, those who have seen devastation all over the world are shocked at what they have encountered. Knowing this, it reinforces the fact I simply can't prepare for what I will see tomorrow.
My Grandmother loved the Serenity Prayer. This is what I take with me. Some days I need courage over wisdom, other days I need serenity over courage and at yet other days wisdom over serenity. For the next two months I will need all three at all times. Knowing this, I'm humbled all over again.
God grant me the serenity
ReplyDeleteto accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
(Although known most widely in its abbreviated form above,
the entire prayer reads as follows...)
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr 1892-1971