Divine Winds

History and legends tell of two incidents when the nation of Japan faced certain defeat by invasion and the enemy armada was destroyed by storms-- the armadas of Kubla Kahn-- and the storms that intervened to save them were called Divine Winds(kamika ze).  The word became infamous later in WWII as Kamikaze, there it was the last gasp of a defeated nation; an incredible choice to squander its youth in a vain attempt to extend a certain defeat.  This was a man-made divinity and it failed.

 I think of this now as a great storm seems to crush some parts of my country-- places I have lived and think of as my home-- and I do not think it is a Divine Wind.  There is suffering and loss of life and we should all send our prayers to those affected and any efforts we can make to help. No, it is the impact of this storm that speaks a lesson to me-- how the sophistications, and dedications to profits and business so quickly recede and lose significance when the land on which we stand disappears beneath roiled ocean waters and flood. When our systems fail, power gone, underground and above ground networks lost to unstoppable surge of tides; it is then we are reminded of the need each of us has for others. The need for help in dire times, when we cannot be saved by wealth or false pride--or the sense of superiority which none of us has earned.  Yes, it is the Divine Wind that sweeps away pettiness and we realize it could be us in the water or our child-- reaching for a rope, reaching for life itself--hoping for a Divine Wind....hdm

The Dead Sea Strolls

There is something wrong with a picture of the coasts of the US, covered with areas of dead water...hypoxia waters ...fancy words for not enough air for fish to breathe... and the solution is to blow bubbles... yes someone has thought of aerating the Chesapeake Bay or the the Mississippi Delta, seems a big storm or two...like Katrina and the one that came soon after solved it there...stirred up the waters to a normal balance for a while...but heavy rains also produce more runoffs from fertilizers and the cars we drive... and speaking of agriculture... now we have to drive the food we grow too, ethanol from corn, oil as the base for the fertilizers ...hmmm...then there is this whole tendency to hide the truth, the big storms won't save us, and are not supposed to... not from automobile exhaust and exhausted soils with too much fertilizer, and fertilzer runs into streams, rivers to the seas; and what about the price of food, going even higher if we deplete seafood and fish by using overpriced fossil fuel to fertilize land to make fuel... because fossil fuels are too pricey...hmmm. You know, this would all be really funny; if it weren't happening...yesterday....