Haiku by paul. m (USA). Artworkl by myself.
In last March, today, I was in Tokyo. Just as I was about to board a train, the earthquake hit. The big swaying shake continued for more than 10 minutes. After that, all the train in Tokyo stopped their operations, expressways closed, telephone stopped working, and city was flooded with people and cars. It was unreal scene.
As a haijin, I tend to look at the friendly side of the nature. There is, however, another side to everything and so is in the nature. I must not forget awe toward it.
In an interview for a literary magazine call "Jelly Bucket", I mentioned the following:
2) Within the media, earthquakes and tsunamis are considered to be "natural disasters." How do you interpret the idea of a "natural disaster"?
I see the nature as a living thing, like my body. The earth, for example, is slowly but constantly changing. Underneath what we normally see, the huge plates are moving, pushing each other with great force. It is as though the stress is accumulating everyday within the earth. My body, too, accumulates stresses from like working long hours. Just as my body need to release the stress occasionally so that bigger damage to the bodily condition can be avoided, the earth needs to do the same in order to sustain itself. When the earth plates release their stress, the earthquakes result.
The difference here between the earth and I is that the former does not have the mind and I do. When I stretched my arms to release the stress, and if I saw a person sitting next to me, I would stretch my arms to the direction that does not harm the person. Being considerate of the others is the working of mind. On the other hand, when the mindless earth releases the stress, it just do it, never minding whoever living on its surface, causing great damage and sorrow to those on the surface. So, from our point of view, the earthquake is natural disaster. From the earth’s point of view, the same phenomenon is just a precaution measure to avoid greater disruption.
Based on this knowledge, what we can do in dealing with the so called natural disaster is to use the mind. We need to use the mind wisely for preparations at all levels of the society before it happens, and for after, devising suitable way of restoration and organizing effective relief activities for those affected.
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My uncle, a notable black-belt Judo man, passed away this morning.
