Post Apocalyptic Now:

Hello fellow survivors,

We're in the future, yet now in a post apocalyptic reality.

You do not know the past entirely, and if this blog/post/literature continues to exist, like we hope it will, for generations.... you are seeking answers to the past.

You see, no one knew we were in an apocalypse when radiation from four nuclear reactors in Fukushima, in an island country called 'Japan' erupted and lasted for years and years, environmental contamination spewing into the seas and into the land over what was supposed to be 40 years, and ended up at least 100 years.

We thought, ignorantly, that an environmental apocalypse would be dramatic, all over the news, and world wide spread knowledge, but in the end the apocalypse was silent, humble and too many years to take effect and its toll on the oceans, plant life and human beings. No one sounded the trumpets, or interceded and it was business as usual on planet earth.

We thought it would and should be like AMC's 'Walking Dead' or other examples like this, but ignored far too long, until it was too late, that we all we're the walking dead but did not see it, feel it...yet....as that is the silent death of nuclear energy.

We died of nuclear contamination, except for you survivors. Over time. It wasn't quick, or dramatic, but a slow death of time. And now it is up to you, and hopefully communications like this and many others are accessible to you in the future. That is our hope, to let you know what your past was, what earth was.... and what you need to contend with this day.

(Thinking of the current events and obstacles facing Japan, Tepco, the environment and the world, I wanted to write a what if? letter to a post-apocalyptic world and the remaining survivors.)

Japan: A Moment of Silence

At the beginning of the week, I fell silent. Humility swept over me. I had a moment of silence for Japan. Next a moment of weeping. 

I begun thinking how very little aid was offered to Japan the first week after the earthquake in contrast to other disasters world wide. And the animals suffering in Japan, and the farmers who won't leave their side and continue to enter contaminated areas to help their animals and cattle. I contemplated all the hero's, including those who have gone to to help.

Then I contemplated the media and world this week:

The media, governments, politics just roll along making the same thoughtless mistakes without a skip in their steps. Did the middle east or even Libya stop and help or have a moment of silence, or just continue murdering one another? Did Afghanistan help or just continue to slaughter U.N workers? Did the Koran-burning preacher have a moment of silence during Japan's disaster or just continue his burn fest?

If we cannot stop our wars and disputes while our neighbors like Japan need help and our compassion, we are in dire times. It speaks a great disrespect to Japan.

It sometimes seems to me in tragedies we've become almost immune to tragedy on some level; we have lost some sense of reverence. Or perhaps all the media bombardment has desensitized us?

I think there's so much we can learn from this past month. We can learn about one another, and investigate our internal barometer; our values and our spirituality. How do we respond to tragedy?: In shock? In denial? With compassion? Or hostility and cold logic?

We're going to take more time contemplating our response to a month of tragic world events that have left us silent in pause.