I donated to the Japan relief, and I think you should too.

At some point in your life, you'll come across a chance to actually do something meaningful. As a person who likes to remember the words "what man is a man who cannot change the world?", I think situations such as donating to the Red Cross for the recent Japan earthquake quite meaningful indeed. But this isn't just me telling you that you should donate too, this is also because I too have experienced a natural disaster (2009 Typhoon flooding of Manila,PH). I know what that feeling of dispair is like, the feeling of being surrounded by water, knowing that your food supplies aren't going to last (partly because of my foreigner self, of not knowing a thing about this country and quite literally not warned at all of the weather forecast) with literally no chance of resupply except braving the toxic water. That water didn't go down for more than 2 weeks, granted water never entered my establishment keeping my life safe, but I'm sure my poor state of health cheated death many times.

Not saying that you'd have to experience a natural disaster in order to know what it's like, recall that I have spent some time in LA, California and have experienced earthquakes past 6 on the scale, but it compelled me for a bit to at least help someone who wasn't as fortunate as I to cheat death. Maybe I won't exactly see my contribution directly affect someone's life, but you know, I can assure you, no matter what the amount, and no matter if it made a difference or not,

It is the thought that counts. And I truly believe the people of Japan will be happy that someone like me, despite the poor health and broken bones, thought of donating, when he could have used it himself. I may have less internet time because of it, and even now I am experiencing food poisoning because of yet another bad meal in this country, and even if I die tomorrow, I'm happy knowing that someone else could be happy too because of acts such as donations. And, as you can see on my Palm Treo750 ROM post over at XDA-developers, I edited the post 5 days ago to point donations instead to Japan. Not sure if other ROM chefs have done so too, but it's a good start.

Sorry for not giving links on where to donate (my donation was offline), I assume you would know where, as I'm not sure how it goes for the country you are in, as I suspect it is different for others, whether it be an online donation or a physical one at an authorized center, so I trust you remember that it's the thought that counts, and to go about it the way that is natural to you (I did see some links on tokyotosho). I guess for starters, you can read this article on Yahoo. By the way, it's another bleeding wall of text for what I originally just wanted to say "donate too!". Sorry lol.