Life is so fragile ...

Dandelion in my yard

We are all thinking the same thing, because we're all watching and hearing the same tragic news being echoed around the globe.  We are speechless and shake our heads in disbelief at the sheer horror that the unbelievable power of nature has unleashed in one little corner of the world.  We utter silent prayers of gratitude that we were spared from this awful calamity.  But what happens to a remote island somewhere in the Pacific, creates a shift in the inner and outer geography of the entire planet. This is not only happening in and to Japan, this is happening to us, all inhabitants of the Earth, at this time and place in our history.  Our world remains in a state of flux with shifting plates, unexpected floods, raging wars, and releases of extremely powerful, invisible energy.  It always has. We spin so fast that we appear to be standing still. Are we even aware that we remain in constant motion, even while we sleep?  When something moves, something changes.  In a single unexpected  gust of wind, a dandelion is nearly blown away, forever, never to exist in exactly the same way ever again. Wake up. Be aware. Time goes by quickly, and life is so very fragile.

I wrote the following piece on the day the earth quaked under Haiti.  It still applies today, not only to Haiti, but now to Northern Japan, as well and to all who have suffered the ravages of natural disasters.  The first three lines of the second stanza were changed from the original text.

In Our Time

Wars continue to rage.
Calamities crush and crumble.
Pregnant, barefeet women
run in the streets in search of
 grains of rice to feed their children
who haven't eaten in days.

Roofs of their homes have been reduced,
and the timbers of their walls
have been blown like matchsticks.
Where in the world
does their help come from?

They are a people in exile,
a people in waiting,
starving to be fed,
embarrassed by their nakedness
and the shame of being exposed.

Long ago, we were told
the poor and hungry
we would always have with us,
and those who have plenty
were told that more
would be expected in return.


~from the book, Pilgrimage to Self