The Trouble with Symbols of Hope....

This is the Lone Pine that survived out of a pine park with more than 70,000 pine trees in the town of Rikuzentakata, where I went last weekend.
Nature is ingrained in Japanese culture and customs, so when a tsunami that took away the best part of a whole town in an instant didn't manage to conquer this one tree, it quickly became a symbol of the town's resilience and staying power, with songs written about it for posterity. .


Recently news has reported that the salt water deluge has damaged its roots and its needles have started to turn brown. Apaarently all hope is not lost yet, and I found this seagull standing guard last weekend, but I hope its demise is not taken as symbolic at all.

From what I saw on this visit, the signs of rebirth are everywhere. There is still a long long long way to go before this town looks "normal" again though, so any support you can all give the Tsunami relief effort in whatever form would definitely be a wonderful thing, whenever you can give it. I tell the story of only one small town on a stretch of coastline 100s of km long with countless towns completely destroyed. However far away from them you are, you are their neighbours. Their actual neighbours are in the same boat as them.