Learning from the past; saves lives 1000 years later

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/11/opinion/la-oe-holguin-veras-tsunami-20120311

"Instead of taking refuge on the closest hill, the one with the shrine, they took the time to get to high ground farther away. From the safety of their vantage point they saw two tsunami waves colliding at the hill with the shrine, as they did long ago. Tragically, not everyone made the right choice; I was told of at least one person who died.
Later, I saw the shrine — a simple clearing by the side of a hillside road, with stone tablets and roughly made figures — and I heard the old story and the new one again: A community remembered what it had been told and did the right thing."

A lesson from Japan to heed the wisdom of our elders.