Hi,

When I was in elementary, one of my favorite stories is the story of two boys whose respective villages were threatened by big waves. One of the boys lives in the side of the mountain while the other lives in the fishing village below. When the big waves came killing the parents of the fishing village boy, he was taken by the family who lived in the mountain and from the destruction and lose, the fishing village boy learned that life can still be beautiful after pain, lose and suffering.

What triggered the recall is the fact that thesetting of the story is also in Japan. I forgot the title of the story but the courage and the friendship forged amidst the tragedy had stayed with me up to now.

The catastrophe that is Japan is like a nightmare. I feel like the story I've read of so many years ago had actually happened now that I'm already an adult. And just as the story made me sad before, it made me sadder today.

In my mind, somewhere in Japan right now is an orphan, sad and desperate because he didn't only lost his house, he lost his family - he lost his everything.

The earthquake which was followed by a tsunami killing number of people was something that I know and heard about in the news but didn't really care at first.

Until I saw the pictures and the videos.

The internet has been flooded with these. There were a lot of stories floating around and the more that I read the stories, the more that I look at the videos and the pictures, the more I get depress and helpless.

What I'm really worried about is the fact that the tragedy is not over yet. That looming in a distance is another possible tragedy - the explosion of nuclear power plants that may take more lives.

And I'm wondering. Can the Japanese people take more? Can they survive yet another tragedy?

Maybe the answer is on that story of so long ago.

I remembered the boy learning to be brave, to face life's adversities with courage. I can remember that there was a family who helped the orphan and they took him in.

I believe that Japan would survive this tragedy because there are people all over the world willing to see them rise again. Japan has fallen before and their people had suffered a lot. But over the years, I've come to understand that the Japanese people would always remain strong and they can survive tragedies and start anew.

My prayers and wishes may not be much but you have them.

Whoever you are, whatever you are experiencing right now and if by any chance you happen to understand what I'm saying, you will survive - and you will be happy again. For you are a country of survivors and optimists and yours is a story of hope. Don’t give up.

A friend you might never meet,


Yeru