Japan - A Friend in Need

At 2:46 P.M. on March 11, 2011, an earthquake hit the island nation of Japan, causing tsunamis, intensive damage, and rising numbers of missing, dead, and injured people by the hour. 
The efforts to help Japan haven't exactly been what I would have expected from such a blessed nation as the United States, but all the same, a lot has been done, money has been raised, and Japan is receiving help.  However, as much as I hear about Japan, I don't hear near as much hype about donating as I did when Haiti needed help or even New Orleans... 
Being a college student, I don't have a lot of money.  I have enough to pay for books, gas, and food, but I don't have a job, so it only will last for so long.  I am very blessed to have what I do, and I know this, especially hearing about all the troubles that Japan is living with on a daily basis.  Thousands dead, injured and missing.... and I complain about getting up at 5:30 A.M.  It's incredibly sad how most of us think here in America.  We buy these huge cars, like the Ford F250, and we park them in mall parking lots, shopping for God knows what, a majority of which we don't need.  We shout that there's nothing at all to eat in the house, when the fridge is full of edible things, the pantry with equally edible things.  What is this?

I truly wish I had some way to help the people of Japan.  I feel for them, especially since I myself am of Japanese descent.  It's not enough though.  There must be something I can do.

I decided that, since I can't give money, time, food, or any other sort of help, that I must simply live in a way that is not wasteful or stupid, for lack of better words.  I want to live simply, buying what I need, occasionally what I want.  Learning to live and not complain about the silly things that I so often complain about, what does it matter that I don't want to eat a sandwich for the 7th time this week?  How many others are starving or just wondering where their family is? where their friends are?  I accuse all these people of living in a way that is over the top, mostly based off of wants, rather than need, perhaps it's time to practice what I preach?