"The layer of human turmoil - looting and scuffles for food or services - that often comes in the wake of disaster seems noticeably absent in Japan.
“Looting simply does not take place in Japan. I’m not even sure if there’s a word for it that is as clear in its implications as when we hear ‘looting,’" said Gregory Pflugfelder, director of the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University.
Japanese have “a sense of being first and foremost responsible to the community,” he said.
The communitarian spirit at the foundation of Japanese culture seems to function even more efficiently under the stress of disaster, he said.
The natural American inclination is to operate independently.
“So you do everything you can to protect your own interests with the understanding that, in a rather free-market way, everybody else is going to do the same. And that order will come out of this sort of invisible hand.
“And Japanese don’t function that way. Order is seen as coming from the group and from the community as a sort of evening out of various individual needs.”
Will this social attitude help Japan recover from this disaster? "In a word, yes."
Ref: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/12/orderly-disaster-reaction-in-line-with-deep-cultural-roots/
1. Laying down ourselves. Something which I believe most of us find very hard to do in the midst of today's society which emphasises on grabbing what is best for ourselves whenever we can. Yet, in an island nation riddled by disaster, there are lessons to be learnt. Where young people make way for the elderly during food distribution, where there was order and respect for the law rather than complete and utter and chaos in places like Europe (during riots) and maybe even our own country. It's a good reminder to be sensitive to the needs of others.
2. This week has been a good learning experience. Challenged myself to lay down what I perceive to be lack of confidence to coordinate lunch sharing after Sunday service, and it does encouraged me to hear testimonies from people whom I have never heard from before. Also it taught me a lesson how I should learn to listen / respond / encourage when people share their troubles / dilemmas..
3. Received my 2 months of salary, and gave tithes for the 1st time (as a working person). There is that sense of joy giving back what God has provided.
4. Movie ECG, morning prayer at UTM's lakeside on one of the days, and CG evaluation reminded me of 2 things: 1) do my best and leave the results to Him (whether good or bad), rather than being obsessive about how things should work out 2. today it is not so much about how much we do, but that our being is also more important than our doing (our actions mean nothing if it is not supported by our life testimony, and our mindset determines the things that we do). It's hard to lay down certain bad habits, but would like to believe that this quarter will be a quarter of spiritual breakthrough and great harvest.
5. Shepherding this week was short, but Ethan's sharing reminded me of 2 things; 1. to learn to be flexible, when people or things are unable to fit our expectations - not to be demanding. 2. not to take things for granted, but to really treasure the time and opportunities I have where God has put me, coz we will not be in student group forever.
6. This week has been quite draining, as I worked from 6.45am-6.45pm everyday. In fact, when parents came on Tuesday, by the time I got home from accompanying them at 10pm, really totally knocked myself out in bed until the next morning. In addition, since I did not get much sleep from preparing for a case presentation on Thursday night after LG, even the decision to go for prayer meeting on Friday after work is really tough - when your brain is shutting down, your legs are giving in on you, and the traffic jam was horrendous. But I was glad I went - it was a night of intense prayer, spent seeking God wholeheartedly, and one which (coupled with this week's experience) spoke to me that if you really know who your Maker is, what He wants to do, and live a life surrendered to His will, certain things no longer matter / bother you (eg what people say, who offended you, what you didn't receive etc) which seem so petty in comparison to His plans and purposes. Coz today it's no longer about us.
8. You just never know where unexpected blessings will come from when you choose to honour and do God's work, as I just found out when my dad called me and offered to exchange a new laptop with my Dell PC. So I now have a new laptop! I prayed for a new bicycle to be more effective in my daily life and ministry, duno where it's going to come from, but we'll see :)
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