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Living as we do near the coast, I was surprised that it took my ten year old more than a week to react to the recent devastating tsunamis.
Last night, finally, she began to take the tsunamis very personally. "We live at the top of a high hill," she said. "So I'm not worried about what would happen if I were here and the tsunami hit. But, my school is much closer to sea level. What would we do if the tsunami hit when we were at school?"
Run uphill, I told her. Run fast. What else should I have said?
Today, I paid a visit to my daughter's school. I asked them whether they would be notified if a tsunami were detected. I asked what the procedures would be in case that sort of a warning is issued. I suggested that everyone at the school get together to discuss what the plan would be.
Tonight, I read The Big Wave all the way through in one sitting. It is only 80 pages long and it packs a punch.
Here are my favorite quotes in order, but read the whole book:
'Father, why is Jiya afraid of the ocean?'
'The ocean is very big,' Kino's father replied. 'Nobody knows its beginning or its end.'
'Jiya's father is afraid too,' Kino said.
'We do not understand the ocean,' his father said.
'Must we always be afraid of something?' [Kino] asked.
...'We must learn to live with danger.'...
'Do you mean the ocean and the volcano cannot hurt us if we are not afraid?' Kino asked.
'No,' his father replied. 'I did not say that. Ocean is there and volcano is there. It is true that on any day ocean may rise into storm and volcano may burst into flame. We must accept this fact, but without fear. We must say, -- Someday I shall die, and does it matter whether it is by ocean or volcano, or whether I grow old and weak? -- '
'I do not want to think about such things,' Kino said.
'It is right for you not to think about them,' his father said. 'Then do not be afraid. ... Enjoy life
and do not fear death...'
And yet, one day, it was the earth that brought the big wave.
'Where are the gods at such a time?' Kino asked. 'Will they not be mindful of us?'
'There are times when the gods leave man to take care of himself,' his father replied. They test us, to
see how able we are to save ourselves.'
'And if we are not able?' Kino asked.
'We must be able,' his father replied. 'Fear alone makes man weak. If you are afraid, your hands tremble,
yor feet falter, and your brain cannot tell hands and feet what to do.'
The wave ran up the mountain ... Then with a great sucking sigh, the wave swept back again, ebbing into the ocean, dragging
everything with it, trees and stones and houses. ... Upon the beach where the village stood not a house remained,
no wreckage of wood or fallen stone wall, no little street of shops, no docks, not a single boat. The beach was
as clean of houses as if no human beings had ever lived there. All that had been was now no more.
... Kino looked out the open door, and he saw the ocean sparkling and smooth. The sky was blue again ...
'How cruel it seems for the sky to be so clear and the ocean so calm!' Kino said.
But his father shook his head. 'No, it is wonderful that after the storm, the ocean grows calm, and the sky is blue once more. It was not the ocean or the sky that made
the evil storm.'
'Who made it?' Kino asked. ... 'Ah, no one knows who makes evil storms,' his father replied. 'We only know that they come.'
The Big Wave: every child over 10 living on a coast should read it. But although the words are simple,
the ideas are difficult to deal with.
The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
-- Emily Berk, January 10, 2005
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