The earth is always in movement

The Future Is In Our Past -

On April 15, when international air travel stood still because of volcanic ash spewing from a volcano in Iceland, Henry David Thoreau came to mind. Mr. Thoreau, who lived in the 19th century, said, "Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth."

Man is flying and is laying waste to the skies with a steady stream of pollution, but it's still nature that has the last laugh. Just when we think we have the upper hand and can harness the power of nature without consequences, we are treated to a spectacle over which we have no control.

Man, however, will not give up his attempt to demonstrate that he can cast nature aside as a mere vehicle of human will. A senior Iranian cleric (as reported in World News, Australia) has blamed earthquakes in Iran on Iranian women who doll themselves up, exciting extra-marital sex and causing earthquakes. Note the blame is on the women.

This sort of thing is not restricted to Iran. The Westboro Baptist church believes Hurricane Katrina was God's way of punishing America for the acceptance of homosexuals, who, in the view of their leader, are a disgrace to mankind. Both clerics believe they have a pipeline to God and the forces of nature are God's punishment for human sin.

Whatever the reason, God's wrath or just plain nature, Iceland's volcano has been erupting for a very long time. In 1783, Europe had a year with no summer and massive crop failures due to this volcano. It is even said to be a central cause of the French Revolution because crop failures caused general unrest in the country. In 1821, the volcano erupted and the eruptions continued for two years.

If we didn't know history we could be tempted to believe the clerics. We could put man at the pinnacle of existence and blame everything on human actions. History, however, tells us that time and time again the planet has proved it is not fragile and can withstand volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and ice ages.

Nature will be nature, and the earth will adjust to all natural events. It is self-cantered money-grubbing man who is destructive in a way that defies nature and its laws. It is man that wants to put a divine or manmade explanation on natural events. By doing so, man can continue to boast of an authority which he does not possess.

What we can't seem to grasp fully is that, for humans, life is a gamble. There are no guarantees that life will be the same tomorrow as it is today. We can provide security at airports; we can structure our affairs as if international travel is a must for human survival; we can live as though everything we do personally is vital to continued existence. Then, with a single event, we come face to face with the certain knowledge that nature resides outside human ambition.

Nature goes on her merry way, whilst man spends an inordinate amount of time trying to outwit and destroy the very thing that sustains human life. Do we realize how arrogant it is to kill off every tree, harness every waterfall and destroy every little creature that gives balance to the earth?

Although we fail to see it, or are loathe to admit it, every single thing in nature has a purpose necessary to the survival of a planet that supports human habitation. Humans can't live without nature but nature can surely live without humans.

Gone are the days when humans lived in awe of nature and stood before her power. In bygone days, we had no choice but to let nature have her way. As we have come to understand more of the laws of nature, we no longer see nature as romantic; we no longer wax poetic about atmospheric conditions by calling atmospheric contaminants stardust. With understanding comes a lack of reverence and a misguided belief that we are immune to the power of nature, as well as the consequences of our own actions.

And then comes a cloud of volcanic ash! Air traffic is stopped in its tracks. Millions of passengers are stranded. Worst of all no one knows when it will end. The mountain has spewed ash for as long as two years with catastrophic results. There is no guarantee that the ash clouds will dissipate any time soon.

It will be interesting to see how events will play out if the volcano continues to erupt. As the economy falters, will the powers that be decide that volcanic ash is not so dangerous to aircraft, after all? It wouldn't be my desire to fly in such conditions but, like everyone, my information comes from the experts.

Experts gave us a very negative account of what the swine flu virus was going to do over the past winter. That scare came to naught. Perhaps the negative effects of volcanic ash are just so much fear-mongering. We will soon see! Swine flu was a moneymaking affair; volcanic ash is a money-losing affair. And we all know the power of money!