Just spinning my wheels

Did you ever have that feeling that you're just not getting anywhere? Like you're stuck in the mud and your wheels are just going round and round, spraying muck, blowing smoke ... but you're not budging an inch? I do, from time to time, and this happens to be just one of them.

A friend of mine got on my case last week about being so negative ... why couldn't I find something positive to contribute? Another was on about me not being specific enough, not providing solutions (as if just anyone can simply identify issues). One of my kids wanted to know why I wasn't more involved. Someone else noted that I was being more quiet than usual. And I suppose they're all right. At least in their own ways.

The fact of the matter is it is difficult being an observer of human nature. Yes, I spend an inordinate amount of time (probably while most of you are sleeping) thinking about what makes humans tick and why. This is always a balancing act on the razor's edge between general and specific. Though too many people don't know it, we humans are all pretty much alike: we share a lot in common, not the least of which is our most fundamental attitudes toward our lives: we'd like them to be as hassle-free as possible but know full well, things will not go smoothly. OK, I don't personally know anyone literally struggling to survive, but I would imagine that that last statement of mine still sums up pretty well what they want. To them, perhaps, it is a dream; to us, however, it is a wish.

The greatest challenge to observers like me, though, is trying to figure out why we insist (at least it appears to me as a type of insistence) on doing things that are in our own worst interests. For those of us in the industrialized, developed West, we know our oil is running out, so we demand even more; we know that fossil fuels are shortening the life span of the planet, and we demand to use more; we know that big money is robbing us of our and our children's future, and we demand they be given even freer reign; we know our governments are abusing and restricting our long-fought-for rights, and we demand that they speed up the process; we know that our corporate overlords are repressing us and squeezing us dry, and we encourage them every chance we get.

I'll be the first to admit it: I just don't get it. There's no escape for any of us, regardless of which catastrophe is coming our way, be it the environmental one, the financial one or the political one. And they're all heading our way.

When I talk of these things to individuals, I get a lot of agreement and lots of good suggestions about what might be done. Yet, when I look out into the world, at our communities, regions, nations or trading blocks, there's not a hint of any of that to be seen. I keep hoping I'm missing something, but I have a nagging suspicion that I'm not, really.

Yep, just spinning my wheels ...

Pride before the fall?

OK, I hated (at least a little bit) to leave that last post hanging, but how much more is there really to say? We've got some unexplained (but not necessarily threatening) natural phenomena going on, and we've got some sensationalist news folks (almost exclusively American) "investigating" it all. And, we've got the fact that some of what has been going on has always been going on (but we haven't written it down), and some of it is truly a bit odd and in need of serious investigation. But, that still leaves us with what I consider to be the most important, and least asked, question of all: so what?

Let's assume the worst-case scenario: 2012 the world comes to an end. The Mayans turn out to be "right" (though we have no idea why their calendar ends or what they were up to, but no matter: we're dealing worst-case here). The Earth is rebelling, the Sun is overreacting, humankind have overstayed their welcome and are destroying Gaia ... it doesn't matter how we describe it, the world is coming to and end. Again, I have to ask, so what?

Why is this such a big deal? If you're a good Gd-fearing, born-again Christian, you can't help but get into rejoicing mode, because you're about to be taken into the bosom of Abraham. If you're a good Allah-fearing Moslem, you can't help but get into rejoicing mode, because He is about to assert his authority. If you're a good, Gd-fearing Jew, you can't help but get into rejoicing mode, because what has begun must also end. If you're a good, observant Buddhist, you can't help but get into rejoicing mode, because the Wheel is turning once more, and there's a good chance we all get off. If you're just a plain, old, everyday atheist, you can't help but not get excited at all: we're just here by chance anyway, so there's a chance at some point we won't be here.

In other words, just about every group I can think of has all their bets covered. And, if that's the case, why is it that the American news media thinks it can increase its sales (at least until the bottom falls out) and make even more money than it already shamefully does? It's quite simple actually: chances are good that nothing is going to end, except for the way that some people currently think. And that, my friends, is what so many folks are afraid of: they might be believing the wrong things? The big, threatening question is always: what if the other guys are right?

My question is, of course, the same as always: so what? All your believing can't change what is. Perhaps it is simply time to step a bit more slowly, to get a bit less insistant, and to become a bit more open to ... well, faith. The degree to which you are afraid, is the degree to which you do not know. The degree to which you are sure, is the degree to which you have no idea. The degree to which you accept, is the degree to which you are actually free. That's what a wise man once said: you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

The sky is falling?

A dear friend of mine sent me a link to a YouTube video that collected all the "unusual" happenings that have been going on since the beginning of the year. Mayan Calendar so or so ... there's lots of creepy things happening, and I have to say, I think I may agree.

First of all, except for a couple of mysterious sound reportings ... that is, people were hearing strange sounds coming from the sky (?) ... almost all of the "strange events" happened in the US. Second, the most cited news channel reporting on the events was Fox. Finally, the reports were about things that people (as they repeatedly intoned) had never seen before. Well, I'm convinced. Aren't you?

OK, granted, a few of the reports were actually interesting: the absolute increase in the number of severe tornados, even in areas where they don't "normally" appear. That's interesting, but it is more interesting for people who don't believe in global warming than for those of us who know it is. There has been some pretty severe sun activity lately, too, but my scientist friends tell me that we don't know what it might have been like at other times because reports are scarce and couldn't have been observed like we can observe them today, so we're starting with a pretty fresh sheet of paper on that one. And then, there is all this volcano and earthquake activity. Excuse me: I lived in California for 14 years and if I found earthquakes, even larger ones "unusual", well that pretty well described me as unusual to my peers. What do you expect when you live on the Ring of Fire?

There are plenty of folks out there who love (or would love) to cash in on people's fears, but if we look at the threats: tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes/typhoons, etc., couldn't it just be that the Earth is simply being what it is: the Earth? OK, we may be having (and I do believe we are having) an effect on the weather overall. You can't pump as much crap into the air and water as we do, you can't raze as much rainforest as we do without some kind of consequences. But if you're in denial, well, you'll just deny it anyway. My question is, what does it matter? Why all the concern? What is there to get all upset about? Nature is nature and we're all a part of it. And ... ?