Stepping up to the (hot) plate

Occasionally I’m guilty of just a tiny bit of cynicism about people and their motivations. And sometimes I grow weary of news reports about the nasty behaviors of which some folks are capable.

But any and all residue of my negativity evaporated instantly when I read of a cadre of truly courageous volunteers in Japan.

The Japanese who affected me so strongly are retirement-age citizens who are offering to help with the Fukushima clean up. They are doing so, they say, because their lives are already mainly in the past and they therefore have less to lose from radiation exposure than younger work...