The nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan was a “man-made disaster” that unfolded as a result of collusion between the facility’s operator, regulators and the government, an independent panel said in an unusually frank report Thursday.
The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission outlined errors and willful negligence at the plant before the earthquake and tsunami that devastated swaths of northeastern Japan on March 11 last year, and a flawed response in the hours, days and weeks that followed. It also offers recommendations and encourages the nation’s parliament to “thoroughly debate and deliberate” the suggestions.
From a high-level perspective, most major disasters were man-made. For example, the ‘Great Recession’ was predominately man-made. And the very leaders who wrecked the world economy seem oblivious to the idea they may not be the best people to rebuild it. Obviously the Gulf Oil Spill would certainly be classified as man-made. Hurricane Katrina was more of a dual problem. Mind you, we are talking about the whole event: the natural disaster that was the hurricane and the various problems, those being man-made, and the government response that exacerbated the problems. And many, albeit a somewhat difficult argument, is the Iraqi War. Some consider that war, as well as, all those causalities (both American and otherwise) a huge made-made disaster.
Many years ago a military strategist made a strikingly observant comment, “As a national, we are great at blowing things up. But we seem incapable of rebuilding anything.” The comment was not made in reference to say rebuilding the World Trade Center, it was critical observation of our capacity to rebuild an economy or nation.
And that is the crux of the argument: for most of us; we simply stink at building and rebuilding. We are unable to build quality relationships, unable to steer a nation out of debt, unable to reach across faith centered morals and help anyone, let alone someone specific in need.
I recently found a great quote, “Sometimes you must hurt to in order to know, fall in order to grow, lose in order to gain, because most of life’s greatest lessons are learned through pain.” Yes, it’s certainly a crazy world out there and there is no one single magic bullet. And true, we can learn many things via pain. But must we always continually have to repeat this process?
From my perspective, we live in a time of overwhelming righteous fury. Thus, I like most, have spent a significant amount of time on the fury versus transforming relationships lost to arguments or personal agendas. Instead, I now choose to identify from my where my emotions originate. I meditate with them and then choose to challenge the thoughts exacerbating them. By simply doing these things, I have found a way to significantly move from man-made disasters to rebuilding.
Life does not have to work through indecision. Indecision promotes blocks, confusion and stress. By working together, regardless of our righteousness, we can allow life to find movement through us. And by being a focal point of movement, we can then rebuild versus destroy.
Trust yourself to become the fulcrum you want to be.