One Year Later

          A year ago, we saw one of the strongest and most well-prepared nations faced unbelievable disaster that would have surely destroyed many other nations. There is no excuse I can make to prove I am not biased because of my nationality, and perhaps it's not possible for me to be impartial in this situation, but the event really changed me. It galvanized me to start and lead my own relief efforts for the Japan Earthquake Situation, something a formerly passive sympathizer like me never imagined I would ever be able to do. I've written about "Project HOPE" before, and the purpose of this post isn't to re-glorify what I did last year. Rather, I'd like to share a response to HOPE I have recently received, on the 1 year anniversary of the incident, and I guess a little bit about what I was up to on March 11th, 2012.

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          I've really only met my cousin Mike once, last summer in L.A., for just a few hours, but we got along so well and he was really enthusiastic about supporting Project HOPE. After I got back to Bangkok, I mailed him a HOPE shirt, and he gave me the best gift in return. He spread the word about my project. He took a picture of the packet I sent him, posted it on his Facebook, his Tumblr, and kinda just told people about me and what I did. I was moved by his support then, and here I am a year later being moved by Mike again.
         Yesterday, Mike linked me to his Tumblr, and to my surprise I found myself looking at a few very familiar photos. An even greater surprise, however, was a new note. He wrote:

"Wore this shirt today that my cousin sent me a while back to mark the 1 year anniversary of the earthquake in Japan. Project Hope was started by my cousin Mika from Thailand and raised thousands of dollars which she eventually presented herself to the Minister of The Japanese Embassy. She REALLY did make a difference... You guys should follow her because she’s really an amazing, caring, and loving person. There’s not many ppl like her..."

I wrote back:

"Making a difference has always been my greatest life ambition, but in the back of my mind I always thought it was an unrealistic one for someone like me to have. Mike, I can’t tell you enough how much your kind words mean to me. Thank you. I also feel like thanking you for wearing the shirt on the anniversary. That was really sweet and thoughtful. =] "

          It stuns me with happiness to realize that HOPE still lives. That there are people like Mike out there who still care. In fact, people like Mike are more amazing than me because they aren't inherently biased to Japan like I am. I am dearly inspired by them.

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THIS YEAR

         It may seem unlike me not to wear my own shirt this past Sunday, but I had a good reason. I was wearing another shirt and... a running number. On Sunday, I ran in a charity mini-marathon for the anniversary of the tsunami/earthquake. Funny story: I signed up for just the 3 km because the other category was 11 km, BUT I got off route, following a mixture of 11 km people and other off-route people, and I ended up running about 8 km. I actually ended up running past the front of my university faculty, which was personally hilarious. Anyway, that was a really good start of the day for me. I was done with the marathon by 7:30 and was so awake and alive for the rest of the day; I felt like I could do anything.