Following the previous day's intensity, today seems like a breeze. Today we are at Mr. Oouchi's home helping clean up. Things are messy, but there are no dead fish or maggots like yesterday. I spent the day before wondering if we were really accomplishing anything and if my coming here was a really a good use of resources.
And then we're able to sit down and talk to Mr. Oouchi, and my perspective shifts. Mr. Oouchi is a part-time fireman. When the tsunami came, he drove around in his truck shouting and warning others. He stood on the top of his truck shouting. The wave hit, and he rode his truck on the wave to his house. He rescued his dog, a chiba inu, on his way to the roof of his house. It was four days before he was able to get in touch with his wife. His fields are clogged with salt from the ocean and can't grow things for another year until the salt washes away, and his family members are now depressed. And yet here he is, sitting with us and answering our questions candidly. I ask for permission to take a photo of his calendar, which has stopped on March 11th. "Sure! Go ahead, that is certainly when time stopped, isn't it." He is so friendly and chipper, the kind of Japanese person who helped me so many times during my year in Japan. He politely tries our American snack, even though he doesn't particularly enjoy it lol.
At the end, he takes a group photo with us, and he has us sign our names in a guestbook of sorts that he is keeping. He thanks us for coming, and says that it means a lot that we have come from so far to help. It is the same thing that a local utility worker told my team leader after the fish house cleanup: "You came in spite of everything." At a time when many Japanese feel forgotten, and foreigners have fled the country amid radiation fears, the presence of foreigners come from far away to help is a great sign of encouragement. The fact that we have come shows that they have not been forgotten.
Our work is an offering to God - we should rejoice in the privilege of serving God and be thankful. Our God is a God of details and infinite wisdom - our vision is limited, and we don't know how what we do affects others. For certain, I know I have been changed and humbled so much by this experience. I am learning to shake this hero mentality, a messianic complex ... none of us can save the world. Only Jesus can =)
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