The Impact of Japan and My Classroom

Imagine the heartache of going through this disaster. Its hard for anyone to imagine things like this.

Monday, after a weekend full of news about Japan and the horrors happening since the big quake...I came to work and prepped for my 7th grade class that begins my mornings. I admit, sometimes I too get tired of the news on TV and want a little fun in life but what's been going on in Japan, Hawaii, Australia, and surrounding areas has been utterly devestating and it kills me to know how much is being lost.

Monday started off with the Pledge of Allegiance. I have trained my 7th graders well at taking pride in their country, for what our pledge stands for, and what we've been through as a nation to get where we are today.  Regardless of what I disagree or agree with in our government and whether church should be separate from state is another issue - the fact is, at least for those 3 minutes in the morning, my 7th graders know to stand straight, look at the flag, and be as awake as they possibly can be knowing that they are American and the freedoms that they are privy to cannot be found in such high abundance anywhere else.

Class began, work consumed them and one of my more vocal students started talking about Charlie Sheen. We've all heard about him and his joke of a career. I politely reminded him what was appropriate and what wasn't and Charlie Sheen was out of the question in terms of necessary topics.  So this student, totally engulfed by the social aspect of news...threw out this statement that literally, no joke, made me lose my breathe and all the life in me for a couple seconds, at least...

"Why the heck do we even care what happens in Japan?! Ugh, no one cares."

I mean, I literally just stared at him, in shock.  What could I possibly say that would immediately take effect in his young mind so that he knew just why the heck he should care!?  The first words out of my mouth,

"10,000 deaths are predicted once this is over." Pause.  Now give me a break, I am no current event reader and I am bad at keeping my facts straight when so many numbers are being thrown around. So yeah, my first response was not the almighty dramatic response I could have come up with. 

Students took the reigns of the conversation and shut this student's talk of not caring down.  They knew about as much as the news had told me and I had about 100 things on my mind that moment that once it was clear that we should care about these things, at least for some of them, I moved on.  But hold on - it wasn't that simple - don't think I just walked away.  Oh no. I did my research that afternoon, last night, and this morning to prepare a discussion we could have in class (while productively working) that would pertain to the occurrences in Japan.

So today.  Tuesday.  Pledge of Allegiance in the first class, of course.  And what do you know, afterwards, the same student had yet another comment about not caring. So, with sincerity and complete calm, I addressed the class.

"Can any of you immediately think of something that compares to 10,000? Can we paint a picture of what 10,000 people together would look like?"

I received various answers...the mall, a video game conference, a concert, etc.  So my response, "Try our city.  10 years ago, this city was approximately 9,000 large.  And growing.  I'm not sure the exact number now but I can imagine that it's similar." At first, this statement only had minimal effect.  Then I added, "How many of you know most the people in this school? We're small, so knowing everyone is common." A lot of students raised their hand (yes, I know they are over estimating the people they know but work with me).  "Now imagine that tomorrow, our city was gone. Wiped out.  9,000+ gone. We would have no control over it, no one besides Mother Nature would be at fault, and you are included in the missing 9,000." I had multiple jaws drop and that same, confident but negative student's face went from entertained to serious in seconds.

The discussion continued - students began asking questions about what was happening. I explained to them that as of that morning I had read that in one city approximately 2,600 people were known to be deceased, 5,000+ were still missing, 2,000 were injured, 23 were being treated for radiation, and the number of people that were predicted dead because of the disaster still neared 10,000. And that's one city. One city in overpopulated, densely populated Japan. Another city, 10,000 are still reported missing. When the students put an illustration with those numbers (all the students in the city, the people inside a mall, etc) the reality of it started to set in.

Now I didn't want to scare my students and to be honest, my students weren't scared but they were interested; truly interested in what was going on now.  It wasn't a joke and the reality was bigger.  It's hard, especially as a pre-teen to grasp the reality of world new - much like it was hard for me to understand September 11th until I was older.  I asked students next, why this affected us - why the US should care? Responses included:

"Because we care about everyone. Even when it's not our job."
"Because we get our cars from Japan."
"Because it affected other places."
"I don't know."

The discussion about where we get our things developed from this and 75% of each of my morning classes raised their hand when I asked them if their parents drove a Toyota, Honda, or Nissan - all three companies are anticipating a major shut down due to the disaster.   When we talked about our use of military in other countries and we took a second to think about what it would be like if no one helped anyone during disasters - my students realized that the United States would not be where we are today without outside support.

I asked them, "I know you many of you were just born but you've heard all about September 11th, 2001.  Did the world just sit by and say 'Why should we even care?' from what you've learned and read?" The obvious answer was no by all of my students (even the ones with smart comments like how the enemy didn't care.)  It was clear that my students understood that when we, the United States of America, needed support and time to rebuild, we had it.  And boy did we ever. And now, thankfully, our service men are over in Japan helping with the rescues and recovery.

I then asked, "How does it effect the world - even more so then emotionally?" and the responses started becoming more developed and mature...

"Hawaii was under a Tsunami watch and that is our own land."
"We have Americans in Japan and Australia - will they get home?"
"New Zealand had aftershock and I heard the aftershock is just as bad as a real earthquake."
"I remember hearing about Parkersburg and I thought that was bad. I can't even begin to think of what the Japanese are dealing with."
"If it really does hit the West Coast, we will need just as much help so we should help now."

I listed that North Queensland, Hawaii, the West Coast, China, and New Zealand are all feeling aftershock and many have been sent to high ground or evacuated.  And I explained the earthquakes and how yes, a 6.9 is more of an earthquake than an aftershock. I shared the news that I heard this morning about how it was expected to get below freezing in Japan today or tomorrow and that much of the population was without shelter or similar.  Then the response I was unprepared for,

"Miss Jorgensen, how does it effect you? So I told them how I knew of many people overseas. 

The first, a college friend of mine well into her pregnancy and living in Hawaii.  Her husband has been overseas during this pregnancy and while it has been hard on her to go through a pregnancy alone, she's been strong and taken care of a lot of things for his return.  And then the earthquake hit Japan and Hawaii sent out warnings to their islanders.

The second, a woman I went to high school with lives in Japan with her husband who is stationed in Japan and their daughter.  This woman is also pregnant; it's only days before she is scheduled to have the baby. And then the earthquake hit Japan followed by the Tsunami.

I didn't have to continue before the students were commenting on how personal this must be for me.  And while I explained that both women were fine as were their unborn children and husbands - they made it to safety or were not effected in their area...I also explained that it wasn't about how it made me feel but how I couldn't help but think of the stress that must be on the people who lost their loved ones, their homes, their jobs, their money and so much more. 

Aftermath of the Tsunami and earthquake in Japan.

A baby, found alive, in the aftermath of the earthquake and Tsunami being held by a relieved and hard-working Japanese soldier in Japan.

I ended the conversation knowing that there was much more than could be said but with simple concepts that gave the students time to think - about how we need to Pay It Forward, just like last week - even if it's as simple as opening our ears to listen and understand what Japan and surrounding areas are going through.  That it isn't our job to fix everything but it is in good character to help those in need and try and fix anything we can.  I urged them to consider others and realize that yes, we are One Nation but we are also One World and when someone needs help, who are we to not care...in fact, we should show our strength but strengthening others in their time of need.
 

We are tiny when we are only simple individuals but together as a group, we can accomplish great things. 

We are nothing if we don't feel, if we don't see, if we don't care but we are everything when we make a difference in the world.

I know that this did not cover art and I know that it is longer than normal but it is hard for me to realize that students and the youth of America are struggling to see the importance of this issue. I received a forward today regarding a student-run relief fund out of Iowa that I hope you can all check out.  These students are creating artwork for purchase and all proceeds will go directly to the relief of Japan.  It is called, "Shades of Relief" and it is an inspiring idea that I hope develops into more. If the link just now doesn't work the direct site is http://shadesofrelief.blogspot.com. Check it out. What a great concept.

An example of the work being auctioned/bid on through this website. Titled "Hope Rising".