A Haiku

Sometimes, even an opinionated jackass like me is at a loss for words.

I have something of a connection with the country of Japan. I've been there and loved it - I plan to live there someday. I speak Japanese, and have friends living there. Some of whom I have yet to hear from, although no one in the hardest hit regions.

I remember vividly the tsunami that hit Indonesia and the surrounding areas. I remember that I couldn’t sleep for days after it struck. And as bad as that was, I never felt a personal connection to the events. It was awful, and I broke my own personal rules about how I donate to charity and helped in every way that I could - even helping to host a fundraising poker tournament.

This is worse.

I watched a video posted by a man living in Sendai who was fortunate enough to be far enough uphill to not be swept away, but close enough that he could see the water rush around the high ground he and a disturbingly small number of people had sought refuge at. It's one thing to see a submerged boat float by. It's another to see cars and trailer trucks float by. But to watch an apartment building, 4 stories high, physically picked up by its foundations and floated away like a Lego just boggles the mind. I witnessed it with my own eyes and I don't think I've fully grasped it.

The first true "miracle" rescue happened yesterday - a man was picked up out of the ocean 8 miles from shore. On the roof of his own house.

Japan has the strongest building codes on the planet. Just one week ago there was a 7.0 Earthquake in Japan, and there were no injuries or fatalities. Anywhere else in the world and we'd have been looking at a body count equivalent to a Jerry Bruckheimer film. So just imagine how astonishingly powerful this new quake and its aftermath would have to be to produce this sort of destruction.

The potential nuclear issues should scare the ever-fucking-living crap out of you. Pay attention, please. It's already worse than Three-Mile Island, and is rapidly heading towards Chernobyl territory. Countries all over the planet are taking new looks at their own nuclear programs as the unthinkable unfolds in Japan.

I didn't post anything on Friday because I live in San Francisco. Point of fact, I live only a few hundred yards from the ocean, facing west. We were on Tsunami alert at home - sirens and police cars and everything. Beaches closed - buses diverted. Had the waves when they finally struck been a few miles north my apartment would be beach-front property now. My wife was on a business trip so I hunkered down with the kids and the cat and we waited it out, trying our best not to be freaked out by the idea that something that took place thousands of miles away could directly impact our home. We weren't always successful - but we had an ample supply of chocolate on hand and that did help. Having an escape plan also helped - we were ready to head to high ground at a moment's notice. My daughter distracted herself with video games and once it was clear that we were going to be spared by son experienced an adrenaline crash that would amaze anyone - he slept for the next several hours.

But obviously what we went through is nothing compared to what's happening on the ground in Japan. I have tried, but I simply do not have the vocabulary to appropriately express how I feel. So I have written  haiku in Japanese. It's terrible - I have real respect for people who can write them in Japanese as it is incredibly difficult. That 5-7-5 syllable format is really difficult when you consider that every "letter" of the Japanese alphabet is also a syllable. Anyway, here it is:

波が来る

地震の後で

波が斬る

Nami ga Kuru

Jishin no ato de

Nami ga Kiru

The wave comes

After the earthquake

The wave kills

Like I said, it's terrible. I just don't have the words.

Cheap shots:

Of course, there will always be people who makes asses of themselves in the face of tragedy.

It's all a lie? Who'dathunkit?

Everything in Wisconsin boils down to the simple concept that they want you to be stupid. Stupid people vote Republican.

Mitch McConnell is a terrorist.

Using this logic, why don't I just fuck your wife? After all, I expect to be able to.

The Devil's Cushions.

Michelle Bachman is not smarter than a first grader.

Thoughtcrime.

Maybe you should pay attention when a Nobel Prize winner calls you a liar.

As per usual, Senator Al Franken rocks.

Michigan is so fucked.

And because I love you, GLAY