TSUNAMI

I usually rant and go on about TV, but a few weeks ago, back in March, when the Tsunami hit Japan, I realized just how powerful TV could be!

Years ago, if this horrific event had occurred, or when it did, someone in the U.S. would read about it, or see a report on TV and maybe feel bad but then turn the page. Today, with the Internet, high-speed connections with satellites and the high-definition TVs we all own, we can see almost simultaneously or live, events such as those that occurred last March 11, 2011.

Suddenly the whole world is in a flat screen TV, making us all keenly aware of the troubles out there, and putting us in the place of spectator and almost participant. We may not smell the smoke of a fire, or feel the tremble of a quake, but we will sense the horror of an event just as much as if we were there.

As I watched in horror, then spell-bound curiosity, I hoped that no children were in danger, that there were no people among the events that unfolded in front of my eyes. Seeing personal footage of destruction of private homes or office buildings and supermarkets being played, and watching whole sections of highways drift and shift, and to hear whole islands had shifted, I was horrified! Cars and planes and ships tossed about like toys, I was in awe, mesmerized, revolted and then taught all at once.

Suddenly I was concerned about a nuclear power plant that could and eventually did explode, about disease and displacement of people and felt the sudden pain they, the Japanese felt.

I guess TV does have a value, a place that makes the world better, if for nothing else, to help us understand other people’s pain.