As I follow the news from Japan, I can't help but contrast the reactions and behaviour of the Japanese with those of the people of Haiti, who were similarly afflicted just over a year ago.
One can't help but be impressed by the calmness, verging on stoicism, being shown by the Japanese in the face of a calamity which to us is barely imaginable. The Japanese have seen worse, of course -- the devastation of their country in the last days of World War II, and ultimately Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Perhaps this has given them the collective strength to endure.
Looking at the videos of the survivors, I see sorrow and anguish, but I don't see hysteria. I see people queuing patiently to get their share of the limited food and water. I don't see people looting or fighting like dogs snarling over scraps.
I see supplies and machinery being distributed to people who, even though it's not their job, are pitching in to do whatever they can to clean up the debris and start making their city habitable again. In Haiti, meanwhile, grass is starting to grow into the engine compartments of motor vehicles sent there a year ago, because the Haitian "authorities" demand payment of "customs duties" before the machinery can be moved off the dockside.
And I see the Japanese doing all they can -- themselves -- rather than sitting on their collective ass waiting for boatloads of foreign aid to arrive, along with foreigners to do everything for them. The Japanese will recover and rebuild, just as they did after WWII...themselves.
A couple of days ago, CNN's Jack Cafferty posed the question, "Why hasn't there been widespread looting and crime after the [Japanese] earthquake?" No answer was forthcoming. Perhaps it was a rhetorical question.
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