Japan Thing's Got Me So Bummed Out, Man...

[MrMentalFitness]

I just can't wrap my mind around what I'm seeing on the tube. The more new footage pours in, the more flabbergasting it is.

A moment ago I just had to get up and walk away from the TV.

Those poor people.

With all my knowledge and skills as a mental fitness trainer, I can not wrap my mind around THAT.

I mean, ya watch friggin' disaster movies for entertainment and walk out of the theater talking about the special effects.

There is no level of special effects artistry that can do anything to convey the terrible magnitude of...REALITY unleashed.

This...damn...this is the REAL THING, and there's nothing blockbuster about it - it's a HORROR to observe.

Politics. Scandals. Celebrity. Mindless entertainments and empty distractions.

So much unimportant nonsense - it's all so petty in the grand scheme of things.

When the sun comes up tomorrow I'm going to SEE it. I'm going to take in the scent of some flowers. Gonna delight in the warmth of BEING ALIVE.

Right now I just want a wide open patch of green grass beneath a blue sunlit sky so I can lay down and watch the clouds go by...

YouTube - Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

 

[Teresa]

Thanks Mr. MF. Your words say it all. Sometimes we forget what's really important, and sometimes we need to forget the world. Lovely song.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I don't think our minds are intended to be able to take in all the disasters in the world which we now do thanks to the internet and national news. Many years ago, we had to deal with only local tragedies, and that was more than enough to deal with processing. Try dealing with only one death of a family member or friend, and you will quickly see that we can't really conceive the death of 10,000 people in one day.

 

[Andy A]

The Japan disaster only goes to show how insignificant man is when compared to Mother Nature. If we garner nothing else from this horrible event we should remember this fact.

 

[Smiling JOe]

So right, Andy. A seawall has nothing on mother nature.

 

[Andy A]

So right, Andy. A seawall has nothing on mother nature.

Maybe not and you're point is well taken. Our seawall was man's way of coping with the laws and declarations set in place by him and thus the responsibility of a board of volunteer homeowner's to their fiduciary responsibility to do their best to protect their homeowner's property. Life is more complex than making snide remarks about seawalls, SJ.

 

[kitlit]

I don't think our minds are intended to be able to take in all the disasters in the world which we now do thanks to the internet and national news. Many years ago, we had to deal with only local tragedies, and that was more than enough to deal with processing. Try dealing with only one death of a family member or friend, and you will quickly see that we can't really conceive the death of 10,000 people in one day.

I agree. But I also think that one of the benefits of the technology is that it can really show us that we're not alone in dealing with these large scale tragedies. I think that it's really beautiful to see the outpouring of love and support coming from around the world.

Although it cannot fix the problem, or remove the pain, sometimes it just helps to know that there are lots of people out there--complete strangers--who are praying for you and thinking about you, and sending whatever support they can. And sometimes, for a moment or two, that can be enough to help you get through to the next step.

I know that I've been sending lots of good vibrations that way, and know that you all have, too. Remember that there's a lot of good in the world, even in the face of things we cannot change.

 

[LuciferSam]

This all goes to show that if there is a god behind the wheel, driving the ship, a few days ago he was busy texting.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Andy, my remarks are not intended as "snide." It only takes seeing one photo from Japan to know that all man made things are not recognized by mother nature. Seawalls are built for man's appeasement, but in reality, they won't stop mother nature. I'm merely using what you said about mother nature and putting it into local terms.

 

[Beauty hunter]

This all goes to show that if there is a god behind the wheel, driving the ship, a few days ago he was busy texting.

That's funny Sam(love your sense of humor), but I think we have the wrong driver. I think Mother Nature was having a hoedown in the pacific ring of fire and I don't think she asked Jesus to take the wheel.


Pacific Ring of Fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Further down the article is more information about Japan:

Japan

Ten percent of the world's active volcanoes are found in Japan, which lies in a zone of extreme crustal instability. They are formed by subduction of the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. As many as 1,500 earthquakes are recorded yearly, and magnitudes of four to six on the Richter scale are not uncommon. Minor tremors occur almost daily in one part of the country or another, causing slight shaking of buildings. Major earthquakes occur infrequently; the most famous in the twentieth century were: the Great Kant? earthquake of 1923, in which 130,000 people died; and the Great Hanshin earthquake of 17 January 1995, in which 6,434 people died. On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 Earthquake hit Japan, the country's biggest ever and the fifth largest on record, according to US Geological Survey data[1]. Undersea earthquakes also expose the Japanese coastline to danger from tsunamis.


Mount Fuji at sunrise from Lake Kawaguchi
Mount Bandai, one of Japan's most noted volcanoes, rises above the north shore of Lake Inawashiro. Mount Bandai is formed of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, the largest of which is O-Bandai forming a complex volcano. O-Bandai volcano was constructed within a horseshoe-shaped caldera that formed about 40,000 years when an earlier volcano collapsed, forming the Okinajima debris avalanche, which traveled to the southwest and was accompanied by a plinian eruption. Four major phreatic eruptions have occurred during the past 5,000 years, two of them in historical time, in 806 and 1888. Seen from the south, Bandai presents a conical profile, but much of the north side of the volcano is missing as a result of the collapse of Ko-Bandai volcano during the 1888 eruption, in which a debris avalanche buried several villages and formed several large lakes.
Nearly a century ago, the north flank of Mount Bandai collapsed during an eruption quite similar to the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. After a week of seismic activity, a large earthquake on July 15, 1888, was followed by a tremendous noise and a large explosion. Eyewitnesses heard about 15 to 20 additional explosions and observed that the last one was projected almost horizontally to the north.
Mount Fuji is Japan's highest and most noted volcano. The modern postglacial stratovolcano is constructed above a group of overlapping volcanoes, remnants of which form irregularities on Fuji's profile. Growth of the younger Mount Fuji began with a period of voluminous lava flows from 11,000 to 8,000 years ago, accounting for four-fifths of the volume of the younger Mount Fuji. Minor explosive eruptions dominated activity from 8,000 to 4,500 years ago, with another period of major lava flows occurring from 4,500 to 3,000 years ago. Subsequently, intermittent major explosive eruptions occurred, with subordinate lava flows and small pyroclastic flows. Summit eruptions dominated from 3,000 to 2,000 years ago, after which flank vents were active. The extensive basaltic lava flows from the summit and some of the more than 100 flank cones and vents blocked drainages against the Tertiary Misaka Mountains on the north side of the volcano, forming the Fuji Five Lakes. The last eruption of this dominantly basaltic volcano in 1707 ejected andesitic pumice and formed a large new crater on the east flank. Scientists are saying that there may be some minor volcanic activity in the next few years.



Volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunami's, and typhoons.
I suppose if you like living on the edge, that would be the place to go. :shock: