How Will All This End?

There are many unsettling upheavals, both natural and 'human' happening in our world at the moment. With so much going on it is difficult to focus on any one of these terrifying events. The news out of Japan the last few days has been, and continues to be heartbreaking. At moment there is some evidence that two or three nuclear reactors have escaped their human masters and a nuclear meltdown is possible. Japan will face world wide criticism and the future of nuclear power will come into question. The disaster is both man-made and natural. One reporter said Japan requires nuclear power, but it is difficult to find a location on their island that has some protection from  earthquakes and tsunamis! Currently Japan has our riveted attention.

A few months ago the news makers focused on  a somewhat similar event in Haiti. But suddenly our attention was diverted to the rebellions cascading through the Middle East. Haiti was all but forgotten!  Gadaffi and the horrendous situation in Libya takes front seat and center. And on it goes day after day.

In the meantime, we Canadians are wrestling with a few major events as well, even if they are minor compared to the above. The crisis in hockey, the apparent rush to a Federal election, scandal on the hill, fighter jets and costly jails, lies and attack ads that make me wonder how we can hold our democracy together.

What this does to me, as I watch nature's and man's destructive forces at work is to remind of how fragile both life and our possessions are. To witness the extent of one man's will to hang on to power, even if it means killing his own people. To watch wave after wave, of what were human lives, homes, boats, cars,farm land, cattle - everything we consider valuable and important, in minutes turned into a river of junk. These scenes cause me to re-examine yet again the fragile nature of our life on earth.

I suppose it would be easier, as an octogenarian,  to sit back and peacefully enjoy my elder years and not let all of this bother me. But I can't do that. I am fully aware that I have more history behind me, than I have a future. The one simple thing that concerns me is I will never know how all of this turns out.

On an even larger scale there is so very little we know about our planet earth, the one we seem bent on destroying,  and its tiny locus the great mystery of the universe. Where did it come from and where is it going? I find it sad to think that I will never know. So I created my own explanation that would satisfy  my minuscule role in all of this. I have come to the conclusion that we fail as individuals to recognize our total and absolute physical connection to nature and tend to isolate ourselves, lulling ourselves to think somehow we are above it all. Perhaps there is no beginning and end, but just forever change!  That I can live with. But where that change is taking our little world and universe I would be curious to know. But that is not to be.

And that's Dick's View of the World this week.