Meteors, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, blizzards, droughts, tornadoes, and tsunamis show us that Mother Nature still rules.
We as humans think we’re in charge, but every once in a while, Mother Nature throws us a changeup and reminds us who’s really in control. We saw that again recently as a meteor went streaking across the sky and exploded in the Urals region of Russia near Chelyabrinsk, injuring over 1,000 people and causing much property damage. We’re told that it exploded with 33 times more power than the bomb we dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. That’s a lot of destructive force.
Space is filled with floating debris and every once in a while a chunk hits the earth’s atmosphere and we see a “shooting star,” as many people call them. Most of them burn up before reaching the earth, but what if a large chunk of space rock hit a highly populated city. What if this 55-foot meteor had hit downtown New York instead of a remote area of Russia? The result would have been catastrophic. It would probably have flattened much of New York. At the moment, there’s not much we could have done to stop it.
Most people have experienced events in their life where they’ve been at the mercy of the natural world. Here in the Driftless Region we experienced two major floods in two years. We saw the destructive force of water as it flooded homes and businesses, wiped out roads and culverts, uprooted trees, and knocked out electricity and communications. The gentle rain that’s needed for plants and crops to grow, and provides us water to drink, wash, and cook with, also has a destructive side. As Trent Loos said in his book “The Best of Trent,” when talking about all things in moderation, “A little water is awesome. A lot of water is deadly.”
That got me thinking about other forces of nature that have both good and bad affects, depending upon “a little” or “a lot.” In all of them Mother Nature’s in charge and rules.
Here in the frozen tundra of the North Country, we’re still experiencing winter. As we all know, a good blizzard can bring everything to a halt and nothing moves. Many of you remember the March blizzard of 1959. People were snowed in for many days. Regular snowplows had trouble getting through the drifts in our road. There was no place to shove the snow. The drifts were higher than the snowplows. Unfortunately, I was on crutches at the time from a leg I had broken in football, six months earlier. We still had an outhouse and no indoor plumbing. Getting through the narrow, shoveled path to the outhouse using crutches was an adventure I’ll never forget. But when nature called, even Mother Nature couldn’t stop me from my mission.
Here in the Midwest we don’t have to worry about hurricanes or tsunamis, but we do know about tornadoes. There again, we can marvel at the beauty of the clouds that bring us water that nourishes and sustains all life. Those same clouds can bring too much rain and lead to destructive floods. They can also turn dark and menacing and morph into destructive tornadoes that can level everything in their path. There is no way to stop a tornado that’s barreling down on you. Mother Nature’s in charge and rules.
Whenever the sky turned dark and it looked like a bad storm was approaching, Dad would herd us all into the dark, damp cellar for protection, in case high winds or a tornado might be involved. We had to go outside to enter the cellar through a door that pulled up. The rain often soaked us as we hurried down the old, stone steps that led to the cellar. Dad would pull the door shut behind us. Sometimes the wind was blowing so hard he could hardly pull it down. A flashlight was our only source of light as we huddled in the cellar until the storm blew over. There was no place to sit so we just stood and waited. Toads and mice also occupied the cellar, so we weren’t alone. One time when we emerged from our dark sanctuary, we saw several large pine trees had been uprooted and blown down in our yard. Fortunately, all of them had missed the house. Another time the tobacco shed had been flattened.
Storms always helped remind us that Mother Nature was still in charge and could do whatever she wanted. All we could do was hide in the cellar and hope for the best.
Farmers know they’re always at the mercy of the weather. Good weather, with enough rain to nurture the crops, means a good harvest. A drought or high winds and hail can destroy a crop. Those are all things a farmer can’t control. Even the best farmer couldn’t stop Mother Nature from delivering a hailstorm that would destroy a tobacco crop that was ready to harvest.
As we travel through life it’s good to remember that there are some things we have no control over. You can fret and worry all you want, but it won’t change things. Just remember that Mother Nature is in charge, will do whatever she wants, and our job is to make the best of whatever she delivers into our lives.
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