We Can Learn A Lot From Mother Nature

The photographs and video finding their way out of Haiti are devastating. One earthquake has nearly wiped an entire country off the face of the earth. We've seen it before - fire, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, quakes. All compliments of Mother Nature.

There are those who profess to believe that such occurrences are God's way of punishing us for some specious deed. Like being gay or having AIDs. That, of course, is nonsense. God should not be equated with nature, yet in some respects nature, in it's deadliest form, is God-like.

Think about it. What else brings the world together regardless of race or creed than a natural disaster? Haiti is but the latest example. It matters not at all that it is the poorest nation in the world. It matters not that the people are predominantly black nor that their government is more corrupt than many. It matters not that the country will never, ever be able to repay the dollar amounts in aid that are pouring in. People are suffering and the world responds.

So what is it? What is it that makes one people hate another to the point of wanting to kill? What is it that makes one people turn a blind eye to the suffering ~ be it torture or starvation or slavery ~ of others? It would seem to be one of two things. Religion and/or politics. The divide is in evidence everywhere! Even in our own country!

Mother Nature is not selective. When conditions we cannot control come together in certain ways, disasters happen. What can be controlled is the response. She brings out the best in us. Differences are put aside for the good of those suffering. If that isn't God-like I don't know what is. Yet in the name of God, tomorrow we will again hate and kill or slander or denigrate. To me Mother Nature is less a mystery than God and more a mirror of who we can be rather than what we are!

Our reaction to each is what puzzles me most. Maybe it's because one can be manipulated and the other can't. Whatever the answer, I wish we'd pay more attention to the lessons Mother Nature teaches us about ourselves. We're a far more attractive entity when we do.