Mother Nature has a way of making things known. In a span of a week, the sun was eclipsed by the moon, and Hurricane Harvey the devastated citizens of Houston. In ancient times, people would equate these events as omens of what disaster was yet to come to the village, and they would scramble to find the best ways to divert her wrath on its citizens. Today, however, when events like these happen, people flock to open spaces and dare the wrath of Mother Nature, by being excited spectators to the show, finding the best seats in the house.
Portland, Oregon was busy with tourists the day of the solar eclipse, and Vancouver experienced 80% of the eclipse. Vancouverites flocked to many places to view the eclipse, one that would not come back in another 100 years, and because it was summer, it was an opportune time for families to view the event together. It was a day off and a historical time, indeed, and no one would have passed off the opportunity. The whole of North America made what was a disaster for villages and citizens hundreds of years ago, into a money-making commercial opportunity. Modern Man one point, Mother Nature zero.
Hurricane Harvey hit Houston hard. That’s not only a tongue twister, but a crippling one for the state of Texas. As Harvey sits steadily, with its eye on Houston for several days now, Americans can’t make a sense of the devastation that rocked their city. While they suffer and endure the hardships of one of the biggest natural disasters to hit the Mexican Gulf, President Donald Trump set off on his vacation after he visited the disaster area, and roused the crowd as if it were a campaign sortie. People in Houston continue to be rescued and relocated, and the call for help is getting louder and louder as flood waters continue to ravage the city. Mother Nature one point, Modern Man zero.
The score is tied, but who actually wins?
Without sounding paranoid or like one who takes omens seriously, we, nevertheless, should not ignore the signs. When Mother Nature wants to tell us something, she does not use subtle ways to tell us what she’s up to. We have taken nature and our gifts for granted, and as people grow farther and farther away from God and rely on their own volition, we become insensitive to the sign of the times.
This ignorance is not only from Mother Nature’s call, but with the whole political and societal institutions. We have elected leaders who have no sense of morality, side with the untruth, and ignore the repercussions, and we have made our society tolerant to almost anything that fifty years ago were unmentionables, simply because they were not morally acceptable. Today, no one even knows the truth, and now truth has become subjective, and its definition relies on who speaks louder.
St. Anthony the Great, almost 2000 years ago, said, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’” These rings true today, as the sign of the times have shown us how man has gone mad, and Mother Nature is mad.