In a few hours I’m leaving with 2 friends and the 3 of us are going up north to northern Japan to help with the destruction from the Tsunami. We’ll start off by making deliveries. As I’ve written before, I feel that I owe it to this place and to the good people in Japan to do something positive.
It’ll be 2 months in a few weeks and things have steadily improved but there’s a long way to go is ahead. What struck me was that a few foreigners that I know had asked me the same question. “Do you think you make a difference by going up there…?” It’s an honest question and a perhaps the right one to ask. What gets me however is that I’m confident in saying the ones asking me have done nothing. Other than leaving Japan and returning, talking about it from afar, or telling me how it’s good that I did what I did; they’ve done very little. In the life of each of us when the time to do the right thing comes, the voice you hear does not come from people.
As for that question, my answer to all of you is “Yes.” My answer to those few who “asked me in that manner is “Ask yourself the same question…” Well, I just wanted to put those words down as they somehow lingered and bothered me today. I’m not a disaster tourist. If I wanted to thrill seek; trust me I can name a lot of other things I have done and would prefer doing.
What I’m doing comes from the heart. Now it’s getting late and I’m packed. You never know what to expect so I’m packing well and making sure I’m prepared. Plenty of food, water, MRE(s), and harsh condition gear. You never know if an earthquake may make us stranded up there. Last time I went up a 7.1 magnitude quake hit. So, you never know, you just never know. I’ll put the same words down as I did prior to going up. Nothing can go wrong if you do what’s right.
Linh Vien Thai is Amerasian, born in Dalat, South Vietnam, where he continued to lived during the war. He left for the U.S. and is now an American living in Tokyo. He enjoys adventure traveling and doing what’s right to make the world a better place.
