A Buddhist monk prays for victims (Reuters/Yuriko Nakao)

When there are a lot of deaths following a natural disaster, it’s easy (and perhaps psychologically compelling) to chalk it all up as an “act of God.”  But one of the most dramatic observations to come out of the tragedy in Japan was how many lives were saved by sound engineering and good policies.  And more lives have been saved since by cooperation and selflessness, both within Japan and through international assistance.

And yet an opposing conclusion is hard to escape as well — that despite all of Japan’s technological advances, it could still never be prepared enough.  And if Japan can’t, who can?  For someone who works in, and has written so much about, development, I have to acknowledge that no amount of development can shield us from all the changes and chances of the world.

That’s why I like to highlight Michael Karlberg’s writing about resilience.  It acknowledges that there always remain things outside of our control, but what we can control is how we choose to respond.

(The photo is taken from TheAtlantic.com, “Japan Earthquake: Two Weeks Later“.)