within the next 10 hours, my father, i, and now my brother (only for the weekend) will be departing from Tokyo to head to Sendai.
2 nights during a sort of mixed time for the locals there...3/11 will mark one whole year after the disastrous earthquake and tsunami that hit the region.
our stay is really not worth the locals for any volunteer work.
but at the same time, just being touristy and taking pictures doesn't seem quite right.
my dad called the local organizers there, and although welcoming, they told us not to roam around too much, don't take pictures, and stay low key. very understandable.
i feel bad going. at the same time, i still want to go. there's nothing to be excited about, that's rude. but there's something within me that wants to witness the aftermath in person.
my existence there may serve no purpose for the world.
but i'm going to check it out. i'm going to fill in the distance between the real thing VS news coverage and moving documentaries. even if it's just for myself.
what. you should go! see for yourself. what you see with your own eyes is far different from someone else's story, especially media coverage. everyone has his own take on things, and those takes are by experiencing things firsthand.
ReplyDeletelike when i visited NYC a month after 9/11. when i went back last year to see what ground zero looked like. and when i went back again to see occupy wall street the night before the police closed it down.
our stories are based on what we see and do, not based on what others say they saw and did, no? and that, dude, is your purpose for the world, because your story matters. :)
-d
it will be an unforgettable experience, no doubt. when i went to germany with NTD, i was determined to visit one of the concentration camps. no one else wanted to go, so i went on my own. it was humbling and overwhelming and calming and sad all at the same time. i'll never forget it. i wanted to take pictures, but at the same time, didn't want to. you'll go with your gut feelings when you're there. look at everything and absorb it all.
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