Economic Meltdowns, Natural Disasters, Swine Flu — What does it all mean?

Economic Meltdowns, Natural Disasters, Swine Flu – What does it all mean?

In the battle for smooth sailing, when one might just start to hope that the worst is behind us – consumer confidence is up, a mortgage fix-it plan has come to pass, stocks are on the rise – we get a new kick in the shin: the swine flu.

So far, the disease is in the pre-pandemic stages much like the skittish stock market of last summer. But it is very likely that the black October of the swine flu pandemic is not far behind, resulting in more closures, frozen leisure travel, and economies of world cities stalling to a stand-still. It leads one to wonder what humankind may have done to provoke such ire of the gods and Mother Nature.

This is when it pays to step back and realize that life is really behaving quite normally. Really.

It may not seem so is we simply look at the short snippet our own lives represent in the vast epic of earth’s history. But throughout humankind’s known history, we can see some familiar patterns. Countries and empires achieve great advances often followed by deep retractions. Remember the Romans? Mother Nature’s drama is earth’s way of rebuilding itself. Think of the blooming prairies following Australia’s wildfires and the thriving slope of Mt. St. Helen’s. And while, we have been able to preserve or domesticate many forms of wildlife, viruses don’t happen to be one of them. As any organism with the spark of life in it, this swine flu virus is simply trying to find a better way to live and we humans must make life smooth sailing. And we humans will answer back as we always do, keeping everything in balance. It is the way of life.

Maybe one day we can find a way to co-exist peacefully with these creatures, but in the meantime we can take comfort knowing that living things are doing and will continue to do what they have always done in the face of challenge: they will keep going.