The Fukushima Fifty

(Note: I wrote this post last month, directly after the start of Japan's trouble. I waited to publish, as I did not want to add to the 'psychic terror of the situation.' The story, however, must be told. Now that this event is swept to the back pages of the news, I find it time to bring it back to the front.)


Japan's elder generation has seen both ends of nuclear 'power'. They experienced it's shattering inception as a weapon of war, and they lived with the so-called miracle of it's peacetime use. Japan prides itself upon it's technical expertise. Perhaps there is something in the Japanese soul that was healed by the concept of controlled nuclear power. Their culture quite literally rose from the ashes of WWII to become the modern apex of a high-tech society.

Standing stones placed upon mountainsides of Northwest Japan mark ancestral records of tsunami destruction. The carved text warns the coming generations to 'always live about this line'. Old legends sometimes turn out to be true. The ancestors did, indeed, leave a warning, but modern man is perhaps too enamored of his technology, and not enough in awe of the raw forces of nature.

Was it a surprise that Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station fell victim to the giant wave after the massive quake? And did they merely forget the carved warnings, or did greed add to the collective cultural amnesia?

The Bible tells tales of Solomon, our biblical and mythical Wisest King, who was able to seal horrible genies back into the bottle. Genies, (called djinn in the original language) were terrible magical beings who terrorized the human race. As we gaze into our own 'djinni' of nuclear power, will we realize that this particular power can never be contained? And who, today, is the Solomon who can seal it back into its bottle?

Enter the Fukushima 50.

The Fukushima 50 are the brave men who left family behind to stand on the front line— while the administrative world wrung and flung it's hands, these courageous souls didn't look over their shoulder for someone else to take on the job, they stepped into the breach, fighting the fire to hold down the Holocaust. To you I give my prayers, and my heartfelt gratitude.

I find it fascinating that the flagship of the greatest nuclear power on earth has pulled up anchor to move outside the radiation zone. That they fear to send men, men who gave their sworn oath that they would to give their lives in service for their country, into the heart of the growing nuclear catastrophe. These men would rather face bullets than face the hell that the Fukushima Fifty have not left yet. "Take care of yourself. one told his wife, as he stepped out for a phone call during his deadly rotation. "Do your best. I won't be home for a while. ..." Typically understated Japanese Love.

I can understand America's disinclination to die for someone else's mistake; however, last I heard, America was the inventor of 'peacetime nuclear power' while Japan was merely the purchaser of the power system. No one knows the extent of the damage. I thought we had un-manned drones we could fly? I've heard tell they use them to look for drugs on the border, or Bin Ladens in Turkestan. Why are these so absent from this nuclear battlefield? Are the accountants in charge still counting cost?

May whatever God you choose bless the Fukushima Fifty; who stand for the One Fifty now in rotation, who stand for the thousands in the surrounding towns, the millions in the cities, and the countries at the edge of the nuclear wind. They stand for the water elements below, the air elements above, and the fire within the shattered earth chalice of this our nuclear age. Goddess hold these men in your heart, and cause the radiation to spare them; and if not, take them up onto your Limitless Breast.

To those on the sidelines, worrying about trouble to come; I'd worry. These nuclear djinnis are everywhere. And management, in its current state, will consistently cut corners on safety for the bottom line every time. There's a reason the Devil card represents the Corporate State in the pantheon of the Tarot. God bless the 50, you won't see management on the front lines. No, middle management faces the press; the real money men have already climbed onto corporate jets and left the scene of the crime.

I remember ancient tales of Samurai, men honorable enough to fall upon their swords when they failed of their empire. Precious few left in high places these days, just crocodile tears from the perpetrators. The real Samurai in this case are the low-level, underpaid and under-trained contract workers left at the plant; warriors all, standing between nuclear oblivion and the rest of the world. And sure, maybe it won't fully explode and contaminate the entire earth. Maybe it will be just a local phenomena, just part of the cost of doing business. Does it make it any less catastrophic?

Fukushima 50, you have not lived in vain. We on the other side of the world? We can only contribute our heartfelt thanks, and our firm intent to rectify this Error of cataclysmic proportion. We in the rest of the world must affirm that the way we live our life is our response. We can choose to emulate the wealthy criminals, always crying for more; whose every decision echoes always the refrain ' it's someone else's job' to rectify their mistakes. The cowards at the top will sacrifice whomever needs to be; after all, they are competitors for the most gilded chariot in the race to the top of the highest and gated heap. (I think there really is a deeper place in Hell. It only looks gilded on the outside, and the heap is surely inverted.)

Saner Hearts; maybe we can pull for a slightly dusty heaven; live with less, and lay those nuclear djinni to rest. Nuclear Power? Hell, no, we won't go.

Goddess bless and sustain the Fukushima 50.

I struggle to remember in these trying times; a heart has never loved in vain, and great deeds are surely rewarded. May the Love that lifts and sustains these heroes in their darkest hour lift and sustain us all. In quantum peace.