Earthquake!

Very happy those friends and loved ones in Colorado and the East Coast did not get hit with “the big one” and wishing the best for those in the hurricane’s path.

As an aside, when I was living in the South, I learned a geographically-centric pronunciation for hurricane: herr-EH-ken – spoken quickly with an emphasis on the middle syllable. I also learned that pending storms (especially those that threatened snow) in the South are met with frenzied trips to the grocery for bread and milk. Apparently, loaves and udder juice are good luck talismans?

I remember hearing that my adopted home state Michigan is among the places on Earth least likely to have a natural disaster. We’ll have the stray tornado and, in my lifetime, two small quakes rocked the landscape, but don’t look for a tsunami forming on Lake Michigan or a volcano spewing in Marquette.

Michigan has unmatched freshwater shoreline, copper and iron ore, highly tillable soils, a bounty of timber, plentiful fishing and hunting resources, and miles and miles of natural splendor that contributes to its citizens’ quality of life and invites billions of dollars of tourism annually.

Lest I turn this into a “Pure Michigan” audition, let me offer balance. The recession started in Michigan years before it spread internationally. Urban unemployment rates are nearly as stunning as urban high school dropout rates. Infamously corrupt and quietly inept leadership have plagued pockets of Michigan. A quick scan of demographic tables shows that the citizenry has voted – not at the polls, but with their feet to find effective educational alternatives for their children, safe quarter for their families, and jobs in a number of other states. In short: Michigan’s natural disaster.

Romantics sigh and wish it not so; others harrumph and see it as inevitable behavior. Pundits pile plenty of pissy pity and polemics (nice alliteration, huh?). Maybe the situation in so many urban centers represents a most immediate and significant affect of global warming: human blood aboil with wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Sound familiar?

Wrath fuels intolerance and hate; greed abandons love; sloth cheats the world of talent and industry; pride doesn’t reconcile; lust dehumanizes; envy deters accomplishment; gluttony steals the chance to share.

It isn’t difficult to inventory one’s own failings in each of these areas . . . that is actually the good news. As individuals, we are not powerless to act. We can begin each day with single steps to right our own ships and seek paths that inspire others. The old saw: “someone should do something,” takes on new weight: we are “someone.”