It is difficult to appreciate the enormous difficulties that Japan is facing when we have seen the country as a competitor to the US for global economic supremacy. However, Japan has been suffering from a slow economy and growing list of competitors for along time. Yet, her situation today could not be direr. When the earthquake and tsunami first occurred I thought of Katrina and New Orleans. I thought of a city nearly destroyed and thousands of people displaced. In the aftermath of the hurricane that struck Katrina nearly two thousand people died but the US, as a nation, was hardly affected by the horror that the flooding caused. The situation in Japan is quite different. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and more than ten thousand have died. Moreover, the tragedy is not yet done. Four nuclear reactors have failed and now a containment vessel may have been breach and millions are threatened.

Japan faces the most serious challenge ever for an industrialized nation. Some of us note this but most of us are absorbed by our day-to-day issues. Perhaps we are even diverted by the events in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, or Afghanistan. If we think those events are more important than what is happening to the third largest economic engine on the planet, we would be wrong.

I had planned to write about the new hires at Broadvox today and our optimistic view of the future. I had even considered name dropping our exhibitors for the 2011 Partner Summit now that we have secured Cisco, BroadSoft, AudioCodes, Digium and others. But the photo of a pedestal with flowers in a 40x40 booth brought on a wave of sentiment.

I have been to Tokyo and walked around the city and through the gardens of the Imperial Palace. I can envision the fear touching a city of 13 million people as the radiation danger from the failed nuclear plants increases. Yet, I am powerless to change the impending events. Japan will experience more deaths and harm to its citizenry and economy regardless of the charitable donations or assistance sent from countries around the world. Please, take a moment to think of the people that make up the country we call Japan and note the devastation and series of events that have followed. Our thoughts, support and prayers are important to the people of Japan. She must not face the future alone. We can and remain her ally.

A pedestal of flowers, a statement of a sad time.