By Jason Lim
By now, we have all watched the devastating live feed on Japan’s earthquake and the ferocious tsunami that followed it.
It was surreal watching the muddy waters roll inexorably into the cities and knowing that there were hundreds of people being killed right there and then, with nothing that anyone could do prevent it. The seeming invisibility of the violent tragedy that you knew was happening made the experience that much more surreal.
It was more than a feeling of helplessness. It was more like a numb sense of despairing inevitability. As I asked a friend, “What can you possible do if you are caught in something like that?” “Nothing,” he replied. “What can you do?”
Except pray for both the dead and alive and hope that the people of Japan rediscover that courage and spirit that allowed them to rise from the ashes of World War II to become the second-largest economy in the world and herald the dawning of the Asian century. (Actually, China has recently overtaken Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.)
True character is revealed when challenged, and I hope that Japan’s true character shines through to become a beacon for the rest of the world as it copes and rebuilds from the tragedy.
Of course, with Japan’s unfortunate history as an aggressor in the early part of the 20th century, it wasn’t too difficult to find netizens from other Asian countries crowing about Japan’s tragedy as a comeuppance for her past misdeeds. The comments were jarring as they were immature and inappropriate.
But such insensitivities were not limited to immature, anonymous netizens who didn’t know better. Shintaro Ishihara, the three-term mayor of Tokyo, has been recently reported to say that the earthquake was Heaven’s punishment for Japan’s self-serving culture of avarice.
While we have to take his words with a grain of salt as he is known for his outlandish remarks, imbuing an existential purpose to such a tragedy as it still unfolded was crass in the least. I mean, the rescuers were still discovering hundreds of corpses of his fellow citizens as he let drop his latest pearls of wisdom.
Unfortunately, such crassness was not an isolated case. Rev. David Yong-gi Cho, the founder and leader of the 1-million strong Yeouido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, was also quoted as saying that the earthquake was God’s warning for Japan for having pushed God away through her practice of polytheism, materialism, and atheism. In short, Japan’s earthquake was God’s punishment for Japan not being a devout Christian nation.
Notwithstanding their comments’ tastelessness, they do point to a peculiar and ever-present human instinct to want to create meaning out of something and everything. This was a devastating earthquake, pure and simple. And tsunamis follow earthquakes. Such natural disasters have happened before and, unfortunately, will happen again.
But human beings are meaning making creatures, even when there is none. This is especially when we are faced with something that shakes our sense of wellbeing, creating confusion between what’s right and wrong. We need the world to make sense. In fact, we can’t bear a senseless world. We wouldn’t be able to survive and remain sane.
The problem with sense making a la David Cho and Ishihara is that they are opportunistic and self-serving. They use tragedy and suffering as an opportunity to interpret the event according to their own sense of reality. Which is fine, albeit insensitive.
But worse, they use the tragedy as a PR opportunity to inject themselves into the news cycle, reaffirming their own sense of grandeur.
It’s shameless and makes me wonder whether they are truly capable of feeling empathy for the real suffering that the affected people of Japan are undergoing as they send down holier-than-thou proclamations from their mountaintops. Ishihara and Cho would call this a learning moment for others. But perhaps they should learn the value of silence themselves.
The sense-making that the world needs right now is not this type of narrow, self-serving ones. Especially when people are scared, hurt, and confused. We need sense making that’s inclusive, inspiring, and healing.
Tragedies can be opportunities for leadership. And leadership is about making sense and imbuing meaning to a difficult situation so that people are inspired to rise and beat back long odds.
I have no doubt that Japan will find that leadership. It won’t be one person. It will be many unsung heroes doing their utmost to help others rebuild their lives. If you can find a silver lining in a dark cloud, it will be a Japan reinvigorated by a cadre of everyday leadership forged on an anvil of cruel necessity.
But it will be a leadership tinged with deep humility, for the only sense that I can take away from this devastation is that human beings, with all our advanced technology and engineering, could never hope to control the fearful awesomeness of Mother Nature.
And the most profound lesson that I can draw is that tomorrow is never guaranteed for anyone, and that we are here today only at His pleasure.
Rest in peace for all the victims of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.
Jason Lim is a Washington, D.C.-based consultant in organizational leadership, culture, and change management. He has been writing for The Korea Times since 2006. He can be reached at jasonlim@msn.com and on Facebook.com/jasonlim2000.