This morning, perhaps like you, I’m still reeling from the disaster that has struck Japan – a horror that will go on for many people forever.
The above photo shows how peaceful and “normal” it is here on Mitchells Island, New South Wales, Australia at this very moment. This idyllic moment against the background of devastation elsewhere in the world.
I read a “Tweet” a while ago where the writer said how blessed he felt not to be going through the suffering the Japanese were experiencing.
Can we count our blessings in a world of satellite pictures, youtube, and CNN? – Do we consider ourselves lucky if we feel into our empathetic hearts. I don’t think so, not really.
Perhaps the real blessing is that heart-wrenching tragedy, whether it is the death of a parent or a national disaster, has the potential to crack open an aloof heart.
Here’s someone who understood how life works:

All life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality….We aren’t going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact. – Martin Luther King, 1967