FROM AN EMAIL: With their country in the midst of a colossal disaster, the Japanese can teach plenty of lessons to the world.

CALM. Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

DIGNITY. Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture. Their patience is admirable and praiseworthy.

ABILITY. The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn't fall.

GRACE. (Selflessness) People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

ORDER. No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

SACRIFICE. Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

TENDERNESS. Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

TRAINING. The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

MEDIA. They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage. Most of all - NO POLITICIANS TRYING TO GET CHEAP MILEAGE.

CONSCIENCE. When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly.

Better us to learn from them than them to learn from us.