Facing the Wave Quotes

“Everything in your world has vanished. You have no money, no job, and no hope of finding one. That’s how it is for thousands of people here. Please don’t forget that feeling.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

“My parents, who are older, think they don’t have to be careful, so they eat the most contaminated fish in hopes that the less contaminated fish will be there for younger people.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

“Reluctantly, Kazuko accepts one of the tomatoes. “This is absurd. You have nothing and you’re giving us food,” she says. He stares hard at her: “The less I have, the happier I am.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

“In disasters, children show us the way to laughter. They are our special treasures.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

“It’s said that if we can drop the bothersome appendages of egos and sugar lumps, we will begin to feel an immense caring for others, for otherness, for all kinds of suffering, and in doing so, we will be able to exchange ourselves for others. If we try, strange sympathies will fill us and the power of empathy will fuel us forward.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

“I tell the parents that those who passed away remind us that we will all die, and to remember this fact; they gave their lives to remind us to live!”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

“Japanese ideas about religion, architecture, theater, and literature are based on wa and shunyata—concepts of plentitude and uncertainty, of togetherness framed by impermanence.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

“Nikki gets a Tweet about the Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who donated a million dollars to Tohoku’s disaster relief fund.”
― Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami