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This month\u2019s healing message from Kendo Nagasaki takes its inspiration from the 2nd anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident in Japan.<\/p>\n
Even now, two years after the devastation, all along the north east coast of Japan, there remain literally millions of tons of debris created by the tsunami – but when you think about it, it\u2019s actually so much more than just debris \u2013 it is countless fragments of homes, livelihoods, personal possessions, memories – all the things that create, comprise, and hold together a vibrant community. Every single gram of all that “debris” represents an aspect of the effort, the hope, the commitment, and the love that all the members of that community had invested into it, all so quickly taken away, and now residing in vast, ugly roadside piles, cruel reminders of what has been lost. How does one cope when one’s home, neighbourhood, community \u2013 every manifestation of one’s very life – are destroyed before one\u2019s own eyes, and turned into what can only be described as a wasteland of shattered wreckage?<\/p>\n
To witness this, even from a vantage point as remote as a television screen half a world away, is literally staggering; one doesn\u2019t even have to try to put oneself in the position of those people \u2013 it\u2019s as hard to imagine that the \u201cdebris\u201d once comprised vibrant communities as it is to imagine the scale of the survivors\u2019 sense of loss \u2013 it\u2019s heartbreaking, paralysing…<\/p>\n
Away from the towns and cities devastated by the tsunami, there’s also the gigantic task of cleaning-up the radio-activity in all the towns and cities affected by the Fukushima Daichi nuclear accident, work that is already a year behind schedule in many places due to the sheer scale of the task…<\/p>\n
For more than 315,000 still-displaced people, the foregoing remains a stunningly-daunting reality; <\/p>\n
…but this is Japan we’re talking about – unique, resourceful, positive and powerful Japan. This is a country which, in the last two years, has been a supreme example of their own principle of excellence – gambari \u2013 \u201cI will do my best\u201d, and in so many ways, their example has been brilliantly inspiring.<\/p>\n
From the perspective of karma and destiny, the only way to view this ongoing tragedy is in terms of the way the people of Japan have responded to it. There is a small book called \u201c2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake\u201d (profits from which go towards aid for Japan), which describes events as recorded by non-journalists who were there, and its calm, matter-of-fact accounts give a wonderfully refreshing insight \u2013 and this is that the people who wrote the accounts are already thinking ahead; their optimism has a palpable momentum.<\/p>\n
A Japanese woman was heard to remark: \u201cWhen the disaster first happened, it was difficult; I had to stand in a queue for four hours to get food, but things are better now. Now I can enjoy being with my family and living an ordinary life.\u201d …an ordinary life? Like so many others, this woman is now living in cramped temporary accommodation, far from her former home, in a town which, in fact, no longer exists \u2013 and yet, in her disarmingly simple statement of enjoying the fundamental things in her drastically-altered life, her gratitude, optimism, and positivity shine through.<\/p>\n
Sadly, the distance of two years does not make everything easier; due to the sheer scale of what they\u2019ve lost, there are those whose determination to prevail is wearing thin, whose optimism is faltering… yet, with the gift of objectivity, we can see more clearly than they can what they\u2019ve overcome, how well they\u2019ve withstood their trials, their strength, their humility, and their spirit, and all of these are prodigious inspiration for us to send them further waves of support, strength, and healing.<\/p>\n
Therefore, for this Healing Ceremony, along with joining with him in empowering all those who need healing, Kendo Nagasaki asks that everyone meditate upon the foregoing, and hold Japan in a golden light of healing; her needs continue to be great, but with our help on the spiritual planes, her inspiring people can rally magnificently \u2013 after all, doing their best is in their blood \u2013 gambatte Nihon.<\/p>\n