First, let me start with this… The blogging community never ceases to amaze me. I am overwhelmed with the feeling of compassion that some of my favorite people around the web seem to have and the amount of giving back that happens on an almost daily basis.
Most people that know me, know that I am a night owl. When most people are sound asleep, I am usually catching up on my Google reader, Wish Upon A Wedding, MWEP and other miscellaneous things. While I do these things, I always have the TV on in the background, either with music channels, stupid reality TV shows, or CNN.
On Thursday night, very early into Friday morning, I was catching up on the normal stuff and happened to have the TV set to CNN. I was barely paying attention when a breaking news alert came on informing everyone that a horrible earthquake had just happened in Japan. When I heard that it was an 8.9 I was immediately drawn in. I literally have nightmares about natural disasters more than anything else, so hearing about something so terrifying drew me in and I closed my laptop to give the TV my complete attention. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the TV as I witnessed what soon followed.
8.9 is a really big earthquake. I come from Michigan, so therefore don’t really have any experience with earthquakes at all. I have had family involved in really scary situations in the past, so I am always nervous about the unexpected wrath of Mother Nature. My aunt and cousins were involved in a horrific tornado in Mississippi when I was young, I have family who were very close to where Hurricane Katrina took place but were thankfully not injured or affected. I am always on lookout.
As I watched CNN’s coverage, I was heart broken. As I continued to watch, the worst possible scenario played out over the screen. I watched as a helicopter covered a seemingly small wave take over cities, farmland, and everything in between, from above. When I say “Seemingly small” that is because everything I saw was captured from the air. It wasn’t until I saw the wave spiral into a road side ditch that I realized how mistaken I was. Shortly after, the wave started moving homes and cars like they were toys made of plastic. Eventually, some of those things caught fire and there was a wave of water and fire taking over everything in its path. The most saddening part was seeing cars attempting to flee from something they couldn’t see coming and eventually getting swollowed up whole and tossed around like they were weightless. It was the most helpless I have felt in a long, long time. Not being able to do anything as I watched these people, whom I have never met or known, suffer through one of the greatest tragedies to ever fall upon the Earth. Watching it on LIVE TV!
Now, I am not saying this to make it sound like I personally went through something terrible, but to explain the feeling that I know most of us are feeling right now. After an earthquake, tsunami, nuclear failures, volcanos and everything that followed, these people need our help. It is our part, as a member of the community of Earth, to help in any way we can. Whether you can donate $1 or $100, or can only afford to raise awareness (completely free by the way!) via Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other outlets, it is our duty to help.
A group of bloggers will be participating in a Blogger Day Of Silence, to help raise awareness. If you have a blog, I urge you to do the same. Before then, please share this information to others who may be able to participate or help.
A huge thank you goes out to our friends over at Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours for creating this amazing project.
[...] Blogging Day Of Silence Thursday, March 17th, 2011 | wedding | amanda Just a reminder that The Bliss Blog will be going silent on Friday, March 18th at midnight, in honor of the [...]