Learning Through Nature And Listening To God In 2009When Pondering The State Of The World

We are many things, and one is that we each are only one grain of sand on this beach of humanity. The waves of life crash upon us, but collectively we survive.

I live in a nation where the first hint of a coming tsunami has made itself known. If you've ever seen or read about them in the world of nature, they are caused by sudden, shifting plate boundaries on the crust of the earth. On dry land, sudden plate movement causes an earthquake; when on the ocean floor, the result can be tsunami. We don't read or hear about many of them because they occur in the middle of 'nowhere' - the ocean, and don't affect coastlines.

Like politics and wars, some ocean earthquakes are near enough to us to affect us.

Just before a tsunami strikes, the ocean shoreline is sometimes is sucked back far away from the beach leaving the view of shallow water. Islanders have learned that's the time to run like hell in the opposite direction of the beach. For the ignorant or the curious who remain to see what is going on, many sealife animals are revealed: starfish, clams, other shelled creatures left in the sand.

And then it happens. The mega tons of water that pulled back now rush forward in a giant wall moving at tremendous speed back toward the land. The result is destruction to man-made habitats and man himself, if he's in the way.

Unpopulated areas rarely if ever suffer total destruction. The age of the earth is thought to be over four billion years old. History is unwritten and animal and plant life goes on. Mankind is but a blip in the life of this planet.

Similar to an impending tsunami, our economic resources are being sucked out of the system. We face a Great Depression far greater than our grandparents or great grandparents did. We may even see the collapse of our currency and the fall of this neo-Roman empire.

For every action, there is a counter action.

We are many things, and we are also each a drop of water in the ocean of humanity.

Like a great wall of water, we will rise up and crash upon the shores of the future. Many of us, including me, will likely be part of this, for the fall of every great civilization sucks up its citizens like a tsunami and sends them crashing to whatever fate lies in wait.

We will collectively be swept into a new revolution in the weeks to come. It may be quietly loud and miserable, or overtly loud and full of civil unrest.

More states will go bankrupt. Schools will debate shortening the school year or even the week and some will, thousands of businesses will close, and chances are this will include a mall near you. Products you've purchased all your life will be gone.

Due to millions more jobs lost, homes and apartment buildings foreclosed, the difficulty or impossibility of getting loans, credit card accounts closed, more people will become homeless, and life will be hard for many. Dogs and cats will live together, and these groups of unwilling families and friends will be forced to negotiate basic resources like food, i.e., "No Jamal, you can't have seconds, and Keisha, stop using the paper towels so much."

As many drops of water, we might have a prayer of a chance of collectively forming a tsunami - not a destructive one, but one where we crash into a revolution of self-sufficiency, greater tolerance for one another, and random acts of kindness.

The alternative is a Police State, rioting, mass arrests and incarcerations where all Constitutional rights have been suspended, and I don't think death camps for 'trouble makers' and 'undesirables' are too far-fetched of an idea, especially if war occurs on our homeland. We literally could descend into utter social chaos and a new Dark Ages.

The question in our hearts and guiding us through 2009 and beyond could be the challenge of Jesus to live by these words: I am my brother's keeper.