[quote=UCGal][quote=flu]
I can’t understand why some of you are worrying about something at the time when folks at ground zero in japan are suffering massively… I mean, if at all it just proves the only one you think about is yourself.me me me me me me me. Oh my, what’s going to happen to me when the dust blows westward across the pacific and ends up on the west coast. Never mind there’s Hawaii in between, or there’s the rest of the world that’s up do do… Me me me me me….
[/quote]
I have to agree with this.
The folks who’s homes were destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami – who are in shelters near the TEPCO facility have something to bitch about… We don’t, here in comfy California.
I’ve heard (ironically, on NPR) that they are having issues getting food into the people of the region because the roads are shut down… because of the power plant. In other words – folks are in shelters, having lost EVERYTHING, and there’s not enough food for them.
The entire world is focused on the nuclear plant – and we’ve pretty much forgotten, in very short order, that 10’s of thousands either died or lost their homes. It makes Katrina look mild.
We need to get over ourselves.[/quote]
Not sure I agree with all this. I agree that our lives are much better by traditional standards right this minute than the people seriously affected by the quake/tsunami/radiation. And of course those who lost their loved ones will never be the same. But our lives are also much better by traditional standards than the daily lives millions of Hatians, Africans, some middle easterners, lots of rural Chinese, plenty of South Americans, etc. And thousands of them die every day from hunger, cholera, malaria, etc. Can you really spend all of your days worrying about them? Shouldn’t you, at some point, say, “I’m going to give x amount of time, effort, and money to help those people. But, after that, I’ve got my life to live. I’ve got my problems to deal with. I’ve got my own family to help. Worrying about the people less fortunate than us won’t help them, and I’ve done what I feel is my part, and now I’m going to pay attention to my life.”
If you are really concerned that the radiation from Japan will hurt you, then perhaps you’re not very good at judging what’s dangerous. But I don’t think it makes you self-centered. I don’t think that, just because other people are much worse off than you that you should stop trying to protect yourself and your family from whatever it is that you think is threatening you.
Sure, a lot of people have forgotten that thousands died in Japan. But thousands die every day from things no less dangerous and tragic than a tsunami. In fact, every single week more people die of malaria than died in the Japan quake/tsunami/radiation disaster. How many people even realize that fact, let alone pay a lot of attention to it?
Of course, if by your posts you mean that we need to keep our mostly trivial problems in perspective, then I heartily agree. Many people in Afghanistan, for instance, probably consider our daily lives some kind of paradise. And I agree that we need to keep that perspective and understand how good we have it. But to diminish what we have by worrying about others is to not take full advantage of what we have. (Again, doing something is not the same as worrying.) And, as far as I can tell, there’s no reason for that.
