Fwd: Japan and our future

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It's a bit long but really worth reading.  I especially found the 'prayer for consumption' food for thought...  The whole idea of being thankful for every small thing we use or take...hugs to allPS it's stopped raining, we're both still exhausted & house still a mess ....  but we do have a clean bed and a roof over our head...  I'm struggling a bit to stay well enough to not be admitted to hospital but have been successful so far.  We've promised ourselves a couple of days rest (spent a week looking solidly at other accommodation... supposed to be renters/buyers market but so much of it is truly awful!)Begin forwarded message:Subject: FW: Japan and our future Blossoming Through Shared Suffering - Examples from Japan: Jane BrunetteMixed in with the disturbing images coming out of Japan is a flower seenby a woman in Tokyo as she walked home from work after the earth shookand the waters poured in.Yuka Saionji saw a little flower and thought, "all of us can now try torun away from radiation, but what of this flower? I bent down to theflower and just felt moved to say, 'I'm sorry.' "I read this on Yuka's blog post and my eyes filled up. It made me wantto thank her publicly for being able to maintain such sensitivity in themidst of tragedy.This is the act of a true flamingseed: one who uses difficult conditionsto blossom into awareness and compassion. And she isn't the only one.She reports on so many others using this time of deep, shared sufferingas fuel to open their hearts and serve others in whatever way they can.Here are a few examples from her post:    * I saw an old lady at a bakery shop. It was totally past theirclosing time, but she was giving out free bread.    * There was a lady holding a sign that said, "Please use ourtoilet." They were opening their house for people to go to the restroom.    * My co-worker wanted to help somehow, even if it was just oneperson. So he wrote a sign: "If you're okay with a motor cycle, I willdrive you to your house." He stood in the cold with that sign. And thenI saw him take a gentleman home, all the way to Tokorozawa!    * When I was waiting at the platform, so tired and exhausted, ahomeless person came to us and gave us a cardboard to sit on. Eventhough we usually ignore them in our daily life, they were ready toserve us.    * An old man at the evacuation shelter said, "What's going to happennow?" And then a young high school boy sitting next to him said, "Don'tworry! When we grow up, we promise to fix it back!" While saying this,he was rubbing the old man's back.We promise to fix it back. That one really stung me. We have left behindnuclear waste and dangerous reactors, global weather changes, oilspills, and failing economic systems for our children to fix. I want tosay to that boy and to all those who will be born in the future andinherit these things, "I'm so sorry." Thinking of them now - the futurechildren and the future flowers as well as the good hearts inside all ofus who are alive now - I want to use this tragedy as Yuka and theeveryday people of Japan have been using it: to join with others andfind a way to live that honors and cares for us all. Not just thoseliving now, but also those to come. Not just the humans, but theanimals, the flowers.Andy Couturier wrote in a blog post that in Japan, it takes one nuclearreactor just to power all the drink dispensers that allow people instant24-hour access to hot and cold drinks. I wonder how many it takes inAmerica? Am I willing to give up instant hot and cold drinks to preventnuclear fallout? Each of us have to make this choice, and I notice thatwhen others around me continue to be wasteful simply because we all havetrouble seeing the consequences, I find myself thinking that my littlechoices won't make a difference. But just like the small choices theseJapanese people made to do what little they could to help, our smallchoices do matter. They add up to a way of life, as they did for theinspiring Japanese people Andy profiles in his book.In the tradition of the Menominee (a Native American tribe fromWisconsin that I am descended from), every person is taught as a childthat before they take anything - even a blade of grass - they need tomake a prayer that explains why they are taking it and what good theywill use it for to benefit all beings. And for everything they take,they need to offer something in return. Because I want to become moreconscious of my consumption patterns and do a better job ofdistinguishing what helps from what hurts, I'm thinking that this mightbe just the prayer to use before going shopping, before buying a drinkin a styrofoam cup from an automatic hot drink dispenser, before castingmy vote for anyone who advocates continued use of nuclear power, beforefollowing my conditioning toward a lifestyle that requires a great dealof resource use. I don't know what the Menominee call this practice, butI think of it as "The Prayer before Consumption."The prayer before (or instead of) consumption   1. Give thanks for all that is given to me.   2. Make an offering in return.   3. Explain why I need this thing now, and how I will use it not justfor my own benefit, but to benefit all. (If it fails this test, then Ileave it where it is.)I vow right now to adopt this practice wholeheartedly and with greatcare, in honor of all the Japanese - but especially, in honor of the boywho rubbed the back of the elderly man in the evacuation center andsaid, "Don't worry! When we grow up we promise to fix it back."May he be given far less to fix - and far more to build on.(Source:http://flamingseed.com/2011/03/blossoming-through-shared-suffering/;accessed March 18, 2011.)No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.894 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3515 - Release Date: 03/22/1105:35:00