Artist

Alexander Averin

Tuesday 15 March 2011

The Ides of March

Dear Diary,

Paradise starts with the love we show each other here on earth.





Four-month old baby rescued


There seems to be so much unrest in many places in the world of late.  People are roused and are rising as one against oppression in more than one country, this can only be a good thing but so dangerous.  When bad things happen I  always think of the saying You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs and I can’t help feeling that we are entering a period of great change.  We can only hope and pray that all will be well in the end.

Even the Earth is reflecting this unrest with so many earthquakes of late.  Yesterday a blogger I follow, Decadent Housewife, alerted readers to this blog written by a woman living in Japan.   I read it before I went to bed last night and it really brought me close in to Sue’s life (and her family and friends) who are luckily alive but living now with shortages of every kind and most dreadful of all on top of the shock of the earthquake and the tsunami are suffering the heightened fear of radioactive fallout.  I read back through Sue’s postings before the earthquake and tsunami struck the people of Japan and it was, much like ours, filled with the everyday and  you could say but only in hindsight, rather mundane matters.

My heart goes out, a cliché I know but it does, especially to all the bereaved; there will be many orphans and many who have lost children.  Am I the only one in that I almost feel a sense of voyeuristic guilt watching the film footage taken by onlookers of the tsunami as it struck and I wonder how people had the calm presence of mind to film it (they must have been up high surely?).  I get rather annoyed with journalists who keep commenting on the huge number of cars strewn about - the number of cars shocked me, they typify our dependence on them and how they pollute in more ways than one.  James Naughtie on Radio 4’s Today was waxing rather too lyrically about the cars, saying they would not see the light of day again - I found this rather insulting in the light of the numbers of human lives lost.

Watching the news from Japan I am lost for words and have been quiet for a few days, wanting to blog about it but hardly knowing how to express my sadness and my sympathy for the Japanese people.  I am glad that our local Mid Wales Search and Rescue Firemen are going out to help.

Sue gives this wise advice, something we all hear and say over again but too soon forget.

Make the most of the present. 

Live in each moment.

The present is indeed our gift and we should treat it as such, savouring each one and the next that is soon to be upon us and enjoying every aspect of life which is really so short and meant to be good; dispelling negativity and dwelling on the positive blessings.  I often wake in the small hours unable to get back to sleep; I usually start ruminating and worry often dominates my thoughts, they enlarge at this time of day, I know not why.  When I woke this morning at 4 am I deliberately set out to think only of blessings and it was incredible the numbers there are, they are endless really. 

As I sit here at the computer I can start counting blessings again: my hands, my ability to type and spell and read and write, the computer itself, the internet, the view from my window, my cottage, my animals beside me, two dogs and a cat, music playing.  Time off work,  I am feeling better, the daffodils are coming out, I have good things to look forward to, books to read, places to go, plants, birds, warmth, clothes, food, peace, photographs, my camera, blogs, email messages,……   I will stop but I could go on all day really and I haven’t mentioned the most important blessings of all, my children, grandchildren, other family and dear friends.

The Dalai Lama got it right when he said Only Kindness Matters. The pictures from Japan should bring home to us the fragility of materialism and that what really matters are people and the love that we can give to each other (and the Earth).

In one of your moments do send out a prayer for Sue and all the Japanese people,

Bye for now,
Go mbeannai Dia duit,
Cait.

9 comments:

Bee said...

I hadn't seen that image of the baby in the pink blanket. A welcome rest to the eyes and the heart. Like you, and so many of us, the ongoing news from Japan is consuming much of my thoughts. We seem to be lurching from one disaster to the next at the moment; I hope that something good will come out of the wreckage. Certainly we are all too materialistic; but saying that and believing it, I also feel intensely grateful for my warm and comfortable home!

Pondside said...

So well said, Cait. Japan will never recover from this - but it could be any of us, so Sue's advice is timely.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

I have never seen a tragedy as overwhelming as this one. The video and photographs are simply nauseating and I haven't the words to describe how they make me feel. My heart simply breaks for those poor people.

Fire Byrd said...

Well said Cait.We must live here and now cause here and now is all we have really. I feel bad for feeling grateful that I live in a country that won't get earthquakes. There are not the words to talk about what the Japenese people are going through.
As for James Naughtie he is just annoying. His voice is full of pious syrup and I want to slap him.

Marion Williams-Bennett said...

Thank you for sharing Sue's story and thank you for sharing your story. You beautifully captured the sadness and helplessness so many of us are feeling.

There was a children's show here in America that was led by this quiet thoughtful man named Mr. Rogers. After 9/11, someone asked him, how do you explain such tragedy to small children? He said:

"Look for the people who are doing good. Look for the helpers."

And I look for the good. Looking for those who are helping, look for what this tragedy will show the world.

People like you, Cait who are reminding us of what matters in this life, and how we need to care for each other.

Peace, friend.

Exmoorjane said...

Ah Cait... I too felt unable to write about Japan - how can one express what was happening there without sounding trite or voyeuristic? But, as always, you put it beautifully. jxxx

jane said...

Thankyou for your reflections Cait - what a sad time for the people of Japan - with a very grim outlook for the immediate future for them - all around the world we seem to have natural or man made devastation at the moment changing the lives of people for ever.

CATHY DANIEL said...

Cait, what a wonderful uplifting truthful post. I am so glad I found your blog - the quote at the top spoke directly to me. Its refreshing to find writing like yours in blogdom...you have a new follower!

Decadent Housewife said...

Agreed.
Thank you for making note of Sue and her little family.

I go to sleep each night asking why, why, why?