Over the years, we have taken in about 14 foreign students, some for as long as 10 months. The majority of them have been Japanese. It was, for the most part, a very enjoyable experience and it has given us a connection with the culture and somewhat with the country and its people. We have lost track of most of them, but I cannot help but wonder if one or more of them have been directly impacted by the tragedy unfolding in Japan these days. The day after the quake I felt compelled to donate to the relief fund launched by World Vision. Who knows, maybe I was in some way helping someone who once stayed in our home.
There was an online poll on Sympatico.ca yesterday asking how many had contributed to any charity or effort to help the Japanese people. There were more than 40,000 responses and only 9% said that they had given anything at all.
I think it is disgraceful that a nation who is so wealthy and who has a reputation as being generous on the world stage, could muster so little response. We sit here, all smug, warm, and well fed, but if the shoe was on the other foot, how desperately we would want someone to help us. This is not wise for people such as our west coast population who are sitting on their own time bomb.
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