Responding to the Big Wave

“What is death?” Kino asked.

“Death is the great gateway,” Kino’s father said.
His face was not at all sad. Instead it was quiet and happy.

“The gateway – where?” Kino asked again

Kino’s father smiled. “Can you remember when you were born?”

Kino shook his head. “I was too small.”

Kino’s father laughed. “I remember very well. Oh, how
hard you thought it was to be born! You cried and you screamed.”

“Didn’t I want to be born?” Kino asked. This was very interesting to him.

“You did not know anything about it and so you were
afraid of it,” his father replied. “But see how foolish you were!
Here we were waiting for you, your parents, already loving you
and eager to welcome you. And you have been very happy, haven’t you?”

“Until the big wave came,” Kino replied. “Now I am
afraid again because of the death that the big wave brought.”

“You are only afraid because you don’t know anything about death,”
his father replied. “But someday you will wonder why you were afraid,
even as today you wonder why you feared to be born.”

-- Pearl S. Buck The Big Wave (1948)


[Kino lives with his family on a farm on the side of a mountain in Japan while his friend, Jiya, lives in the fishing village below. Though everyone in the area had heard of the Big Wave, no one suspected that when the next one came, it would wipe out Jiya's entire family and fishing village below the mountain.]

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has set up a direct response account for donations to respond to the suffering in Japan. Individuals can give through their congregation, by calling PresbyTel at (800) 872-3283, on the secure PC(USA) website, or by sending a check to:

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
P.O. Box 643700
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700

Gifts should be designated for account DR000117 — Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor