So Much I Don't Know

There's so much in the world I don't know. I think about this when I think about what's going on in Japan.

I really never knew much about Japan. Growing up I knew the Chinese didn't like the Japanese. When I went to Tokyo for the 1st time in 2005, I wondered how people would react to me (everyone was friendly and I loved the fast-forward city).

Found myself glued to the TV, "waiting" for something to happen with the nuclear reactors. Realized I had no idea what they were talking about when they showed depictions of the nuclear rods, lost their cooling--may catch fire. What is a nuclear rod anyway? How do they hook the new electricity grid back up? How much radiation is getting in to the air?

Also hot in the news now is Three Mile Island, & Chernobyl. Even though Three Mile Island is right here, near NY in PA, I vaguely remember this on the news as a child (or maybe young adult) -- could have blown us up and I was hardly aware. Same with Chernobyl, people really suffered and had no idea why vegetables were confiscated or cows had radio-active milk, or children were born deformed. Half a world away -- unless something is front and center, & doesn't impact you directly, you're really unaware.

A lady in the gym told me how terrible the nuclear disaster is for the Japanese people and how they've already been through this with Hiroshima....again, that never even occured to me. There's so much in the world I don't know. Hopefully I won't find out the hard way.