if only for one

I am addicted to following coverage of the devastation in Japan. Maybe it’s simply the overwhelming magnitude of annihilation. It’s difficult not to be curious and saying it’s surreal is an understatement. Today, I was reading updates-

-Death toll now surpassed 3,000
-Aftershocks still plaguing the country
-Japan has shifted 2.4 meters due to the earthquake
-People facing their 5th night without water or electricity
-Snow expected to fall throughout Japan
-People hungry, freezing and missing their family members
-Threat of radiation poison

Talk about depressing. My heart goes out to the millions of people affected by this tragedy. It seems as if it literally could not get any worse. But, then, as if someone turned on a light in a pitch black room, I stumbled upon this…

That’s pretty powerful stuff. It amazing what the power of one person can accomplish. I take two things from this:

1) If everything I’ve gone through this year – the pain, hurt, rejection, humiliation, fear, anxiety, vulnerability, lack of trust, lostness, discouragment, stress, loneliness… is for the purpose of helping just ONE person who will go through a similar situation – it is worth it. Because hope is a powerful drug. (Lest you think that is easy for me to say, I type it biting my lip and with hesitancy) I have a cousin, who also went through a failed marraige. She reached out to me and she will never know how she comforted me. If even to remind me, “No Jen, you’re not crazy. I felt that too.”