Together For Japan @ Coe

Coe hosts students from all over the globe and the students in the spotlight right now are the students from Japan.  It's scary to hear all about the earthquake and the tsunami and see all the damage on the TV screens and in the newspaper.  The Japanese students who are at Coe formed a group called Together For Japan @ Coe to raise money for the relief efforts and had a presentation yesterday to share their stories.

Haley and I went and it was very emotional.  Luckily all the Japanese students' families are all right but they shared moments where they weren't sure if all was okay.  They also shared some movies they created with images from the quake and tsunami.  The presentation took place in Kesler Auditorium, in Hickok.  There were a lot of students and faculty who came to show their support.  After the presentation the group was outside the auditorium collecting donations and giving out rubber bracelets with the words "Together For Japan @ Coe" on them.

I enjoyed the presentation and although I was sad at the destruction there were some inspiring moments.  The students kept talking about the spirit of Japan and how everyone was working together to get through this disaster.  A small boy in a grocery store put his candy bar away and elected to give all his money to a man who owned the store.  Or a lady who was offering her bathroom to strangers walking home since transportation is at a standstill in some places.  It's small acts of kindness such as these that gives me a lot of hope for the people in Japan and for the whole world.  If we could be that way all the time, think about what we could do.