Reality Over Naïve Belief

　In Miyagi, where I live, a large number of people lost their lives, homes, families, and friends. So many people are still missing. More than ninety thousand people have been forced to live in the evacuation centers since then. The March 11 disaster has changed me, and, as I believe, also changed many other people. It has made me question  my naïve belief, “Everything happens for a reason.” It has also made me notice how differently Japanese people behave in the calamity and chaotic situations.
    I was on my way home from school on the day the earthquake struck the North East of Japan. After the totally unexpected disaster, the very first thoughts that pop up into your head are about the people you love. You immediately try and get in touch with them to hear their voices or get an email from them letting you know that they are safe.  I was very fortunate to be with my family that day. However, a lot of people were not able to be with their families. Some of my friends spent the restless night at the school in the cold and darkness, not hearing a word from their families. Some of my other friends walked all the way home for many hours to see their families.
   My views on life have changed ever since. I used to believe in the saying, “Everything happens for a reason.” (I was taught so in American education.) But now I don't. There is no reason for all those tens of thousands of innocent people to have lost their lives or their families or houses. Many of my friends lost their houses. Many of them were forced to live in the evacuation centers. I don't understand how some people were perfectly fine, but others not. There is no reason. Now I understand that in this world unreasonable things exist that we can do nothing about.
However, I came to believe that there are things that the people who didn't lose as much can do to help the others. I personally helped a family that had lost everything on the first floor of their house. That family had a high school daughter, so I gathered up some of my clothes for her to wear. It didn't matter to me that they were the clothes I still wore. All I wanted to do was to help and send my love out to them. I also went to the beach with my American teacher and a couple of people to help clean around. I was shocked at the sight around me. It was hard to imagine how the tsunami could do so much damage and tear apart the whole town. It was painful to see items people used every day buried under the sand and debris.  
   It has only been a year since I moved to Japan, and I haven't fully adapted to the Japanese culture. What surprised me was the ways the Japanese reacted after the earthquake. While I was living in the United States, there would be a disaster much like March 11. I would watch the news and see people pushing each other, breaking into stores, and fighting for food and water. I was expecting similar chaotic scenes to break out here in Japan too, but it was the absolute opposite. What I saw with my own eyes were people waiting calmly in long lines to get food and water. I heard not one person complain and people would still refrain even though everyone was in the same situation. I would have thought people would only think about themselves and their families, but everyone was supporting each other. Helping each other during a long period of time brought all of us together. We all became a family. I myself stayed in an evacuation center for a while and I've become friends with people I'd never met before.