My Prayer

When I woke up on Friday the 11^th, I did my usual routine before I went to work. Everything seemed so normal and calm. I got to my office on time and there was a parcel waiting for me. I opened it up and found myself two pieces of fantastic Japanese made fine denier fabric. I immediately drew out my 40x magnifier in hope to uncover the secret behind such artistic work. But I was asked by my superior to deal with an emergency issue for a client, so I left my office and the unthinkable happened.

Strong earthquakes hit the Tohoku Region in Japan that same afternoon. At first, I didn’t think it would be that serious given that earthquakes happened quite often in Japan. While on my way home, I turned on my favorite radio station, I heard that a couple hundred people died during such catastrophic incident and the Central Weather Bureau in Taiwan lifted the tsunami alert. I suddenly came to realize just how severe the incident was.

I swiftly drove home and turned on my television, I was shocked. The earthquake itself caused some major damages. The tsunami, on the other hand, caused damages beyond imagination. The vivid image of television broadcasts continued to show the after effects caused by the earthquakes and tsunami, but what really got to me was the scrolling text. It kept showing that how many hundreds of bodies were found in a particular region and how many thousands of people who had gone missing.

Call me sensitive all you want! We are talking about people’s life here!

In August 2009, Typhoon Morakot caused a catastrophic mudslide in Southern part of Taiwan. A village called Hsiao-Lin was razed to the ground and over 600 residents were buried alive. It was devastating. I could only pray on something like this will never happen again.

And now, Japan is facing the worst ever crisis. Such a harrowing tragedy touches every one of us. My prayer goes to the Japan and its people. Wishing you all to have the strength, courage and hope to make it through.