balance

I've been thinking so much, as all of us have lately, about the people of Japan and what they are going through.  More than ever before I'm convinced that living as much in the now as possible is the only way to live.  Life can be over in a moment, you have to be able to leave this world feeling that you've lived the way you wanted to live.  When I watch the tv coverage of the events I am struck, as many people were, at how the people of Japan are handling the crisis.  They are caring for each other and helping out calming and with determination as well as grieving the loss, a combination of moving forward while acknowledging what happened.  During a time of crisis we see the values of a culture, obviously Japanese culture has a strong value of caring for each other and creating order so that life can remain as stable as possible.  This is just my perception, I have not spent time there.  I am in awe of their strength and courage through this.  We can learn a lot.  Instead of turning on each other and taking advantage of the situation (ie: looting and violence) they help each other out.  It makes me realize how crazy our North American culture has become.  We've lost some very important values that out ancestors had.  I think this very thing is what this blog is all about, trying to create some kind of beauty in my existance while dealing with the realities of everyday life.  We can get lost in one or the other, it's all about balance.  I really hope people will take away from this a sense of reassessing the things in life that really matter and maybe make some changes in the way they live their lives.  I know I will.