Taking Life for Granted

What a week right? Waking up to the news Friday morning and viewing the devestation on the television of the aftermath of the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami that followed in Japan, I just sat there in shock. Why? These natural disasters occur all the time right? I watched the warnings and read the urgent texts from my mother about the potential of a tsunami hitting Hawaii where my Marine brother who just turned 22, survived two deployments to Afghanistan and celebrated his 2nd wedding anniversary lives and I watched and watched and watched. I was overjoyed when I found that he was safe, the heightened sense of danger was over and then my focus redirected to Japan. I watched from home, from the car wash, from the restaurant, from my phone and felt myself drift back to 9/11.
I wondered if this was what it felt like for those who watched the devastation on America, that feeling of helplessness and where the hell do they even begin to recover? As the situation went from bad to worse and I knew the news reports of the few hundred presumed dead would eventually enter the tens of thousands. I felt guilty for having had negative feelings earlier in the week about all of the United States humanitarian efforts when our own budgets were out of control, when I have been at the mercy of Congress as they decide what they are going to do before I can actually do my own job, and I thought about the unrest in Egypt and the Middle East. As I watched the footage over and over I thought...there is no way to prevent this. None. Even  if evacuations were ordered based on the amount of seismic activity that lead up to this massive quake, there is no way to keep an ocean that covers the bulk of our planet from coming ashore. No human actions can prevent a driving force of water moving at the speed of 600 mph and miles wide. Japan's fate was destined, regardless of whether or not one believes in a higher power. I have found myself in a different place, one much like 9/11, where life has new meaning. Where I appreciate with a deeper gratitude today, the freedom I have, the air I breathe, the successes of my children and the love I have from my family and friends. It makes me sad to think of all the unnecessary bickering, fighting and the evil and ignorance in this world. Seriously...cant we all just get along already?