Word Power Saves Lives

Yesterday I saw a video interview with Dr. Kitada, a counselor whose "It's OK to save yourself" campaign is credited with saving lives in last year's tsunami.

"Nigeru" is the word most often used to describe escaping from a disaster scene. But the word also has the negative connotations of running away--abandoning responsibility, cowardice. When Dr. Kitada counseled junior high kids in a tsunami-prone town, kids said things like, "Grandpa says he would never run away, and neither will I."

So, the counselor realized his battle was to reframe the word "nigeru". But how?

First, he helped the junior high kids understand that they were at the age where they could use their strengths to protect others instead of being the ones who were protected. The next step was the realization that, to protect their mothers or grandmothers or little kids or whoever needed help, they needed to be alive. So, "nigeru" wasn't about running away. It was about staying alive to be available to help.

Still, there were kids who said, "But if I run away, I'm still a coward."

Dr. Kitada's reply was that the one who is brave enough to do what others don't have the guts to do is not a coward. Just the opposite. When everyone is standing around, unable to move, worried about what everyone else is thinking about them, the one who is brave enough to go first--to pull others along the road to safety--is the hero.

Sometimes, the battle isn't against the forces of Mother Nature. It's a battle against the barriers we build in our own minds.