Hurricane devastation can reach several levels of incomprehensibility, and the latest invader known as "Harvey" exceeds anything the rational mind can easily sort out. The human toll in lives lost, emotions scrambled and dreams shattered won't be fully tallied for months or years to come, but the end result, no matter the form it takes, won't be pretty because everybody will wonder when a hell reinforced with wind, water and flood will return to do it all over again.
I've lived in Texas, and drove as far south as San Antonio, but currently have the pleasure of existing with bouts of snow and ice, not hurricanes or tornadoes.
But you wonder. Or rather, I do. I've never won a popularity contest for compassionate writing, so anything I tap out next will probably just urinate off a lot of folk. It all starts with the men and women who say. . .
"Nobody is going to tell me how many children I can have!"
And that's correct, nobody can. Well, unless you live in China, but even there the human numbers amaze.
Nevertheless, collectively parents or, more likely, people who just grind out human births because they can, produce one hell of a mountain of humans who need resources to survive and thrive: More infrastructure, more superstructure, more crops, etc., etc. In the process, we create societies which may as well look like targets as natural disasters go on the hunt for victims. With so many of us scattered about in growing, expanding communities, the odds are not with us because nature's nasty surprises can no longer avoid the populated areas dotting a planet of finite land space.
"Nobody is going to tell me how many children I can have!"
True enough, and so the risks for natural disasters will increase and potential victims will be ever more in danger. It's all in the numbers and, sadly, hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, floods, disease and a ghoulish plate of other threats to life on the planet have nothing to do but "go forth and multiply." Just like humans, who thought those words applied only to us.
Mind you, we're not addressing human-caused "climate change," merely the effects of our numbers on Earth, period. This is not brain surgery, I'm no brain surgeon and there is no space here for an Al Gore error-sprinkled global warming love fest.
A further word about tearing down statues: Well, once they finish ripping down Robert E. Lee (we assume that'll make ESPN feel better, too, since the jock network apparently has a problem with some "L" words), I expect they'll be coming for everybody named Robert, and I'll have to change my name to something leftist-safe, something like Chelsea Manning or Woodrow Wilson. Idea: What to do with all that empty space once the statues are gone? How about erecting statues of Sheriff Joe Arpaio?! Since the Democrats are so wrapped up in destroying statues (and public memories?) of THEIR OWN historical figures, maybe it's time for the other side to get in on the fun by replacing them with something a little different.
