Nothing like two days of canceled classes and over a foot of snow to make you realize just how powerful the forces of nature can be. Just when we think humans are above nature, separate from it, it so kindly reminds us that we are very much simply a part of a much larger whole. We delude ourselves when we believe that we've conquered it with our technology. It's easy to get a big head when we've stopped rivers with our dams, drained swamps in one area and created lakes in another. We irrigate fields to undermine rainfall patterns and hull in snow to ski resorts. And just when we think we can control our surroundings, our world, it decides to remind us that we aren't as powerful as we often think we are.
And in spite of this helpful reminder from the rest of nature, there are some of us who try still to circumvent it. The other animals seem to have it right. Wait it out in your burrow, den or nest, and take the day off -but not us. With our snow mobiles and blowers, with our windshield de-ice sprays and mountains of salt we attempt to literately plow through this obstacle, this nusicince, play it off as if it were no big deal, shrug off the undeniable blow that the elements have dealt us. We an't just accept that our station may not be as high as we'd like it to be. We can't accept that human society can take a break, can be put on hold in recognition of the events taking place in the "real world," that world outside of our little bubble of human society.
I think we're far to arrogant sometimes.
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