The tragedy in Japan has hurt me in my pride as a human being. I mean, I love humans. We are never satisfied, we always want the best, we are stubbornly committed to our battle for eternal progress. We created civilizations, technologies, sciences, the arts. Yet, we are so ephemeral. We are so insignificant.  

I am appalled not only by the power of nature that has engulfed Japan with a huge wave of mud, salt, and killed a enormous number of people. I am even more overwhelmed by the power that this tragedy symbolizes for all of us. 
Japanese culture is our beacon for progress and harmony. For at least a century, we looked up to our Japanese friends as vanguards of technology and their ability to tame the dark forces that live within human civilization. 

Now, on the Rising Sun, that from the beginning of times greets the first dawn of our days, a disaster dropped undermining our way of life, our certainties, the confidence in ourselves.  

A disaster that tells us how small we are. We cannot pretend we don’t see the power that this tragedy symbolizes. Everything always has a meaning. Before we fix our gaze towards the East awaiting a new dawn for a new battle of progress, we certainly must stop to think of how small and insignificant we are.

Giuliano Federico 

Photos from: http://cfsl.net/tsunami 

* Artists from the community, joined by comic book writers and illustrators from all around the world rallied around us, Jean-David Morvan and Sylvain Runberg to form the Tsunami initiative. 

"We want to collect a maximum of quality drawings in order to hold a fund-raising auction on April 30th in Paris at Galerie Arludik. All the money we'll raise will go to the earthquake's victims. The auction will be Followed by an exhibition and in book two outs September 8, whos Benefits Will Be Offered to an organization for people affected by the disaster. Feel free to spread the word!"