What Does "Being Safe" Really Mean?
I’ve come to my own conclusion that it is less about external preparation and more about finding that unwavering place within. Connecting to that place, for me, is where I feel ‘safe’.
Also, giving space for my own fears to have room to be acknowledged and then released.
Now, that’s not to say I’m not concerned about radiation poisoning from whatever is to occur in Japan, but I also did some investigation on how far radiation was detected following Chernobyl in 1986.
High amounts were detected in many parts of Southern/Eastern Europe for several days, but eventually began to be dispersed. Yes, the radiation made its way to the US, but the amount was quite small compared to several hundreds of miles around that plant.
The West coast of the US is over 4500 miles from Japan. If Fukushima were to turn into Chernobyl, yes, we’d get some measurements, but it would hardly be in comparison to what the people nearby in Japan would experience.
So for me, as an American, that’s a return to a feeling of ‘safe’. I do feel immense compassion for the Japanese, because even those that are hundreds of miles from Sendai, the emotional stress might be just as impacting as the physical stress. And not just in this immediate aftermath. I took an course on health psychology in college that presented a study of the stress levels in residents before and after Three Mile Island in Harrisburg, PA.
After that scare, the stress levels were quite elevated, to be expected. But 3 months, 6 months, and even a year later, the stress levels were still elevated. What I took from that study was that the nervous systems of the residents of Three Mile Island had not been brought back to equilibrium. They still were living in some degree of fear or fight/flight mode.
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