Selfless heroes

Maybe you’ve heard that two members of the original Fukushima 50 who have been working inside the nuclear plant since the day it became damaged have been exposed to amounts of radiation well above the limit that the government set for the emergency workers.

It is for reasons such as this that Mr. Yasuteru Yamada, a 72 year old retired engineer, and a group of other retirees have announced their desire to replace the current younger workers in the damaged nuclear plant.

Yasuteru Yamada

The group consists of retired men with a variety of skills and knowledge that would be helpful in repairing the plant…such as retired engineers, university professors, military, crane operators, construction workers, welders and so on.

Mr. Yamada said that it’s not right for young people still have many years ahead of them, and may have or want to have small children to raise, to risk their lives when he and the other retirees who have decades of related knowledge and experience and have already lived most of their lives are willing and able to do this dangerous work.

I was impressed with their selfless willingness to sacrifice themselves to help others. Most of his group signed up without hesitation as soon as they learned about this group.

“We shouldn’t leave a negative legacy for the next generation.”
— Yasuteru Yamada