REMEMBER

One year ago today, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck off of the north-eastern coast of Japan.

Even on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, I remember that day in great detail. Up late working, a glance at the computer revealed an unusual amount of Twitter activity coming from friends in Japan. Minutes later, a link to an iPhone picture showed a shockingly fragmented public sidewalk. Then a burning building in Odaiba. Chaos.

I ran into the other room and turned on the television just as the breaking news hit CNN.

Is my family ok? Are my friends ok? Minutes seemed like hours. It was only afterwards that I was able to truly grasp the magnitude of the situation. While all of my love ones were accounted for at the end of the day, many people could not say the same. Not then. Maybe not ever.

The emotions of that day are something I am still not fully able to turn into words. What I can say, though, is that I am incredibly proud of the charitable efforts shown by so many of the people around me.

Over at NT, the community worked with MercyCorps to raise over $20,000 in small donations. Even with most individual donations totaling between $10 and $20, it only took a few weeks to reach a five digit total. MercyCorps, working with Peace Winds Japan, used these funds to provide disaster relief through several different methods, from temporary shelters and basic supplies to getting small business back on their feet through grants and subsidies.

Closer to home, my good friends Ryan Lindow and Yumi Kitade, along with FTC and W-Base, helped me put together a short documentary, For The Country, following cyclists Teppei "Nasty" Iwabuchi and Yuhei "Marco" Hirose on their first journey from Japan to the USA, only one month after the disaster.



I write this today to ask you to not only remember all of those we lost that day, but to also remember all of those who still need our help. Remember that, with a little good will, we can still do great things.