If I May Call You Edna?

Are you one of those people who does their best thinking in the shower? Are you a fish who never wants to leave the water? Does everything just seem right when you are in it?

Water, the giver of life. Without water nothing on Earth would exist. It would be barren as many other planets are. The rain after a long drought replenishes the land. The oceans provide a home for all types of aquatic life. Everything mammals eat and drink contains water. The human body is 55%-78% water. We can only survive 3 days without it. Water is essential.

In many beliefs water is not only essential, but magical. In Christianity, water is used to cleanse one’s soul of sin, in the ritual of Baptism. It is also used for blessings and exorcisms. In Hinduism, there are sacred rivers such as; the Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari, Sarasvati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri. In Islam and Judaism it is used to keep one pure. Waterfalls are sacred in the religion of Shinto. In Viking burials, the dead were sent out to sea. In the practice of Zoroastrianism, water is kept from being polluted, because it is sacred itself.

Water is a major symbol in many literary works. In Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, water conveys knowledge and tranquility. In the song “Once In a Lifetime” by The Talking Heads, water symbolizes life. In Kate Chopin’s, The Awakening, water represents freedom and cleansing.

Now that we have learned a little bit about water throughout life, I think its time to explore what makes us so comfortable in it. My theory about this goes back to when we were just mere babies in our mother’s wombs. We were floating in fluid and felt safe. When we are in water it’s the same feeling, the feeling off safety. And when we are safe we feel free to think.

So why then are people afraid of the water? To look at the other side of water, it is very powerful. It gives life and has the power to take it. It can wipe out whole cities and topple boats like rubber duckies. As tranquil as it is, it also has great destructive energy. It has the power to pull people into its depths and never let them go.

I transform into a fish when summer comes around and I get brilliant thoughts in the shower. I love running in the rain and the ocean is my playground. Once I get in the water, its hard to get me out. All I know is there is nothing like going under water on a bright summers day. When you look up and see the sunlight glistening on the top and streaking through, everything just seems right. The silence and faint noise of moving water, put you at peace. My only wish is that I could stay down there longer, but alas I eventually have to surface for air.

“The foamy wavelets curled up to her white feet, and coiled like serpents about her ankles. She walked out. The water was chill, but she walked on. The water was deep, but she lifted her white body and reached out with a long, sweeping stroke. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.”

http://www.africanwater.org/religion.htm

http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/ChoAwak.html

http://www.liquidsculpture.com/index.htm

Unknown

I feel as though I have something important to say, world changing even, but I don't know enough yet to say it; nor do I know what it is.

Beautifully Destructive

Nature… beautiful but destructive. Natural disasters have plagued humans as long as civilization has been around; from the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates to Hurricane Katrina and to the recent earthquake in Haiti. But are natural disasters… really disasters? From the perspective of the human race, yes they are disasters. They kill people, devour cities, and diminish people’s livelihoods to ruins.

I beg to differ with this way of thinking though. I think it’s important when nature is concerned to look at it on a grander scale. The earth has been here long before us and may (unless we continue on the path we are on) be here long after us. It is constantly changing and evolving. Islands are formed and destroyed, continents are shifted into new ones, plant life evolves and changes. The old gives way to the new.

As human’s we have a certain resistance to change. We want to have control over everything. We want to control the weather and even the Earth. But really, the Earth controls us. We are at it’s mercy. After all, we are just animals, even though we have the capacity of higher thinking. We have the same basic needs, the same drives: food, water, shelter, sleep, and procreation. As Darwin put it, “survival of the fittest.” This is the way nature works, and we can fight it all we want, put in the end we are still part of it.

So no, natural disasters are not disasters at all. They are normal reactions the every changing Earth has to the environment. Fires clear out the old plants and make it so new trees can grow, providing oxygen. Volcanoes create islands and give already existing lands a clean slate to rebuild. Earthquakes create new land forms and reshape the land. Tsunamis create new lakes and waterways. Hurricanes and floods provide rich soil deposits to the lands. In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the bad. Why try to ruin a system that has worked for billions of years?