Zen Tara Tea Blog

Tea & Good Intentions - The Desire to Help Japan

The virtual limitations of the internet can be almost unbearable when a tragedy like the earthquake and tsumami unfold before our very eyes. We want to somehow step through the monitor and be transported across the globe to help search for, comfort, bring sustenance and financial assistance to those who are suffering in Japan. What we can virtually do vs. what we should really do might be two different things.

Our most immediate reaction is to quickly find a charitable organization or international aid program to make a donation that will help the people of Japan and alleve our sense of urgency, our need to "do something". This urge is a wonderful part of our humanity, yet the people in Japan would be better served by a sustainable compassion than a guilty reflex to the images and videos of the tsunami streaming across the internet. This is not to say there isn't a need now, there is, but the need will be there in 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months and longer. Will you just click a donate button and make an instant donation for $10 now or will you be there for the more difficult days ahead?

We're not experts in what charitable groups or relief agencies can respond the fastest in this emergency nor do we know which are most efficient at getting your dollars to the people in Japan who need help the most. But we have had personal experience in these situations. Twice.

Once was in 1992 during Hurricane Andrew which one of the owners of Zen Tara Tea lived through. Evacuated from the coastline of Miami where the threat was thought highest, we were moved inland into what would be the direct path of the hurricane. Damage all around our building afterwards, no power, impassable roads, no source of news (cell phones and the internet were less ubiqitous back then), no clean water and temperatures in the 90's. Relief agencies couldn't get in. Ambulances and police couldn't get in. For a couple of days it wouldn't have mattered if the world had donated all the money it had there was no passable infrastructure to get to us, rescue us, feed us or bring us water. Once the first rounds of help did arrive and we appeared alive and more or less well, the initial surge of relief ended. The camera crews went away. We were left somewhat alone to deal with the grim and difficult rebuilding of our community. Witness so much that is left to be done in Haiti and in New Orleans. Have they entered your thoughts lately?

The other occasion was the Southeast Asia tsunami when the owners of Zen Tara Tea traveled to Thailand in 2005, less than 4 weeks after the tsunami. Traveling down from Bangkok to visit friends in Phuket we visited what was then a ghost town. We heard stories and saw home videos of some of what happened shortly after the waves came ashore. These were raw images, unedited for an international news broadcast. We stood in areas that still were debris fields 4 weeks later. Our trip was never planned as a relief trip, it had been scheduled months before. When the tsunami hit we considered cancelling the trip but in talking to people in Thailand shortly afterwards we were asked to still please come. We went ready to roll up our sleeves and do whatever needed to be done to help. There were those chances when we arrived but in the end what people seemed to want most was hope that things would soon return to normal. For us to make those small gestures that helped recreate patterns that reminded them there would be a life after the tsunami that was what they remembered their life being before that tragic day.

As a tea company that has been sourcing tea in Japan, through our contacts and Japanese customers at the shop we have a wonderful admiration for the country and its people. We too wanted to do something as soon as we saw the events unfold. We still will help the people of Japan and are exploring the right partnerships for doing so but life has taught us lessons in the past, what we can do and how we can best help is still ahead of us. This doesn't mean that it isn't worthwhile to help groups like the Red Cross now but feeling compelled to donate regardless of the logistics on the ground might be serving your needs more than those of the people in Japan. Is that what you intended?

Take a longer view (tea helps with this). Take more of an interest in Japan, their culture and their people beyond the immediate tragedy. Be aware that one step should lead to the next, not abruptly end. Compassion is a beautiful thing, but it is more than just clicking a button on your monitor to make a donation. When the button goes away and the videos become harder to find online, that will be when they need your help most.