The Big Day

Today was the big day.

That is, today was the day when we went to the High School...the one that once was a realm of the victims of the accident that brought me here to Japan this summer.  It was a surreal experience, one that Iʻm not likely to forget.

Although it may have seemed downplayed with cheerful presentations and salutations, it was so much more than that for me.  First, the memorial for those that were lost is right in front of the school.  We began our day by paying a visit to it and giving our respects.  We then went to give our presentation on Hawaii which I think went relatively well.  We later went to visit another school and even the Mayor of Uwajima, the city within which the school was located.

The details of all these visits are too vast to elaborate on, but there is one thing that I do want to share and that is how amazing it is to touch both sides of the situation.  I think most of us, we "donʻt want to get involved" because we donʻt have anything to do with certain things.  In my case, although I live in Hawaii, the Ehime Maru accident never seemed to affect me directly.  However, today I got to meet people involved and stand at the memorial whose sister memorial I stood at in Hawaii.  I breathed the fishy air that lays over the town and got to gaze at their mountains.  I got to see both sides.

And you know what I got from that?  I suddenly felt like a part of it.  And, it was a good thing in the sense that I have a renewed purpose and I feel a connection that I didnʻt see before.  While most often we tell ourselves its bad to "butt-in" to others peoples business...I felt, suddenly, a tremendous sense of responsibility to the partnership between Hawaii and Ehime.

I felt like it changed everything.

(o_o)