The day the earth shook...

It was a busy day as every day is in Japan. Business people running for trains, mothers charging around with kids on bicycles preparing for another week ahead.

Then things went silent, people screamed, the earth shook again and again.

Reports came in fast about the Tohoku area and Sendai.

I went straight on my cellphone to call my loved ones...no signal. Everything was down. Panic.

Trains stopped all around Kanto and the nation. People lined streets seeking information.

The public was glued to televisions, internet and radio.

More and more videos and accounts appeared minute by minute. Some too shocking and unbelievable to even fathom.

Night came and there was no food left in stores. Some train stations remained open so that people could rest there for the night. Other stations closed and people had to find a way home or just brave the winter night on the floor. Some were lucky enough to be allowed to sleep in their offices.

Have you ever seen a movie come to life?

A man using a video camera to record some people walking down a road trying to evacuate due to an incoming Tsunami captured a moment that will be frozen in my mind forever. A lady is helping an older lady who is possibly her grandmother. The older lady is moving very slowly. There are some children running. Suddenly screams can be heard from behined. The tsunami 6 ft plus high has caught up with them. Water is coming rapidly at them, unrelenting, cars are in the water along with everything else that it has gripped in its path. It's coming and coming and coming. The video ends.

I ask you now, who can prepare for such an event. Who can begin to imagine standing and watching while your home is destroyed in front of your eyes in a matter of seconds or minutes. Who can believe or put in words the time when you see the area that was once your home, just gone. Flattened, just nothing left. Who can begin to imagine the horror of losing your wife, family, children and know that you are the only one left. Who can imagine knowing that your family and friends are in the areas worst effected and not being able to speak or touch them. Who can imagine what is going through the minds of the people on the coastal areas who have lost everything and are surviving freezing snowy nights with only one blanket in a school gym. Who can imagine what is running through the minds of families as they are reunited. Joy, sorrow, relief, anger...who knows.

Life is...there is so much completely needless fighting, squabbling and pettiness over who knows what in this world of ours. This is not a naive observation, it is the truth. Why must there be so much suffering in order for a country and the world to pull together and stand as one.

I for one, am ashamed of so much that has passed in my life and the things that I have done. How could I have been blind to so much that was right in front of me?

It is time for a real change not just words of change from some random politician.

I believe in you and I hope you feel the same. We need to be stronger for each other and for the future.

Respect and all the love to those in Tohoku, my friends in Sendai and all those around the world who have suffered.