Cav's Place

I was looking out the window as a nice snowfall blanketed everything in white and thinking everybody should be enjoying something like this. Yet the news say otherwise, because you keep hearing of all the problems caused by snow and ice and all the people who are unhappy because the weather isn’t allowing them to do what they supposedly have to do. So I have to wonder why must people think that what they want is so incredibly important? Why can’t they understand that Nature is way greater than they are and simply stop and enjoy its beauty, being thankful when it decides to give us a glimpse of it?
Things are different when the natural phenomena in question are clearly destructive, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, heavy hail, floods, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. The effects of such phenomena should be mitigated as much as possible when they are relatively rare occurrences, though I maintain my opinion that people should move away from areas that are frequently hit because it’s obvious they’re not exactly suitable for humans. But when the phenomena in question are not particularly destructive, why put so much time, effort and resources into fighting against them when we could just slow down and smell the roses (or the snowflakes), even suspending all nonessential activities if that’s what’s required. I think we could all benefit from this…

What you keep seeing and hearing at such times are complaints from people who are upset because they can’t get where they want to go, or simply because it’s difficult to get to their desired destination. They’re saying it’s difficult or even impossible to drive, trains and flights are delayed or even canceled and so on. Which is all true, obviously, but my question is why do they insist on traveling at such times, when it’s obvious that the conditions don’t exactly permit it?
Yes, having some way to travel is essential because emergency vehicles and other critical services shouldn’t be hindered, but I’m talking about regular people here. And it’s these people who insist on traveling in such weather that make it even more difficult for the authorities to clear even those sections of road that’d be required in case of emergencies, therefore perhaps even causing worse problems than the weather itself. But they don’t see it that way. I doubt they even think of it, considering how important most people think they are. They just know they want to get somewhere and they must be able to do so, Nature be damned…

But this is not just about the fact that, despite global warming tending to make the people from many areas forget this little detail in recent years, it’s perfectly normal to snow in winter. It’s about the greater issue of how people view the weather and natural phenomena in general, which becomes even more obvious, and worrying, when you think about all the attempts at controlling the weather in order to ensure adequate conditions for various events, despite the fact that the methods that have so far been used for this purpose often tend to have undesirable consequences. Though this may not be the best example, since it gets me right back to the issue of snow, the most terrifying weather control project I have heard of so far is the proposal to eliminate snowfall from Moscow…
Which just gets us right back to the even greater problem: People insist on thinking that they are more than they are, that they matter more than they do, that the world must bow down to their wishes and allow them to reach their goals, no matter how unreasonable those goals may be. And, unfortunately, the few who don’t share that view are constantly trampled over by the many who do… But that’s another issue…

I want to quote a phrase from an article from this month’s edition of National Geographic Magazine: “We were smart enough to invent our worries, ambitions and jealousies; then, dumb enough to allow ourselves to be ruled by them.” I quoted this because I think it’s relevant in this particular issue, because society makes a lot of people behave as they do. This rotten society we have created for ourselves tries to tell us that it’s of utmost importance to do everything it wants us to do, regardless of circumstances. It’s one of the reasons why, just after the first significant snowfall, newspapers tend to print titles like “the first snow fell and the only ones enjoying it were the children”.
But what if adults would learn from the children and remember what society made them forget? What if we’d do things differently? What if people would stop worrying about getting where society tells them they need to go when it’s snowing or raining or windy and start thinking about playing in the snow, kissing in the rain or simply feeling the force of the wind on their faces? Or, if they don’t enjoy those things, they could simply stay inside, either watching Nature’s spectacle through the window or ignoring it entirely, catching up on various other activities while using the minimum amount of energy, by keeping all doors and windows shut and preferably also living in a thermally insulated dwelling, to keep a comfortable temperature in the room they’re in. In short, what if we’d see Nature as an ally instead of an enemy to be defeated or a slave to be ruled?
I think a lot of time, effort and resources could be put to much better use if we’d stop trying to keep the roads clear enough to allow everyone to go everywhere they care to when it’s snowing, or to keep rain away from this or that apparently important event, or to constantly rebuild the places that are repeatedly hit by destructive natural phenomena. I also think many people would feel a lot better if they’d realize that the world will not end if they take it easy and take advantage of what Nature throws their way now and then. And the more people realize that, the easier it will be to change society as a whole, until this kind of behavior will be encouraged as much as the opposite one currently is. Because, though few seem to realize this, society is created by people and can’t exist unless they accept it. But, once again, that’s a different issue…