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2007 - A YEAR OF CHANGE January 16, 2007 Susan Bates

As I write this, a terrible winter storm is attacking the Midwest. Tens of thousands of people are without power. Shelters are struggling to find room for all those who need a place to survive. While this is our first major storm of the new year, the Denver area has also been hard hit with at least 2 major snow events, while the east coast has been without any frozen precipitation at all. I saw pictures of trees blossoming 3 months early in New York and Washington DC. In fact my own daffodils were getting ready to flower before this round of freezing rain struck. Very odd weather, for sure. All over the globe, things are changing. Ice is melting quickly in the northern latitudes. For the first time in recent history, an inhabited island has sunk beneath the seas. Lohachara island, located where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, is lost. These people, along with the residents of sinking Ghoramara island, have fled to Sagar, but that island has already lost 7,500 acres of land to the sea. A dozen more islands in the area, with a population of 70,000 people, are in danger of being submerged by the rising seas. I spent Christmas with my son in New Orleans and witnessed first hand what it is like to live in an area that is doomed, although the majority of residents there don't believe it. With each rain event,( and there were 4 of them in the 3 weeks I visited,) they would announce on TV and radio that the levees might not hold. Horrific visions of the terrible flooding during Katrina keep people on edge. The pumps which keep the city from disappearing under the river, gulf and lake Ponchetrane, can handle 1 to 2 inches of rain an hour, but several times more than that fell. Streets flood quickly. The swamps and bayous are taking back the land that man has claimed through drainage systems, pumps and dams. Moreover, a recent report issued around New Years stated that not only is the water rising around the coastline, but water is also washing in under the land and pulling the soil out with the tides. Plumbing is collapsing. Foundations are crumbling. Homes are sinking. From all over the globe come frantic cries of "Global Warming!!!" We must fight to save the world. Cut pollution, recycle, reuse. Politicians and activists have plans to reverse this process. Al Gore vows to save the world. The truth is, what is happening today is part of a natural cycle which has occurred with regularity since the dawn of time. Yes, we could have/should have done better, but either way, what is happening now would have happened anyway. We are entering into a New Era. Before anything can be created, something first must be destroyed. To build a house, you must first cut down some trees. To eat an omelet, some eggs must be sacrificed. To create a New World (Earth) the old one must be destroyed. Indigenous People have always understood this process. What happened to the Mayans whose great civilization seemingly "vanished" overnight? What became of the Anasazi who left their pueblo homes for parts unknown? Did they die in some cataclysmic event like some people say? Or were they in tune with Nature? Did the droughts and changing weather conditions force them to adapt and move in order to survive? I suspect the latter since a remnant of these People are still here. What do you supposed would have happened to these people if they hadn't been attuned to Nature. What if they had been told that the droughts, floods and other catastrophic events were due to global warming or some other man made catastrophe and that it could be stopped? Do you think they would have had the sense to relocate and adapt or would they have stayed in their homes waiting for someone to rescue them and perished? Judging by what I've witnessed so far, they would have died. Change is hard. Change is frightening. But it is inevitable and it is much better to "go with the flow" instead of clinging to a deck chair on a sinking yacht. Creator has a plan and each of us has a part to play. Listen to what He's telling us to do. It will be okay.

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