The Earth Acts Naturally

I was talking with my family the other night about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and my Mom said said something some to me I'll never forget.

She said with tears welling up in her eyes "More than anything the tsunami makes me realize that we as humans are nothing more than guests on this planet. We have no control over the natural disasters that occur."

She couldn't be more right.

Earth is one of the planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. We know based on scientific research that each of the planets is made up of chemicals that, as far as we know, make them inhabitable.  Some we can't breathe on, some are too hot, and others are simply too cold. The point is, they are what they are. We can't change them - we can only discover and learn as much about them as we can.  We could only survive on those planets if we chose to. In other words, we can only survive on them if we create and evolve ways to survive based on what happens on those planets.

What makes Earth any different from other planets?  The only thing I can think of is that we HAVE created ways to survive - foraging for food, cleaning and filtering water, and providing shelter (you know, Oregon Trail shit). Those three things are the absolute necessities to survive as humans. And what are they all based on? Surviving natural occurrences: rain, snow, sunlight, and other [what we call] natural disasters: volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and earthquakes.

An earthquake is a shaking or trembling of the earth that is either volcanic or tectonic in origin.  Obviously there is something that triggers them, but we are yet to discover exactly what it is. The point, however, is that it's completely natural - it can't be predicted (yet) and more importantly can't be controlled. Therefore we are inhabiting a world - a planet - that we have no control over. Our time here is not necessarily never-ending.  We've simply built structures to function in: homes, offices, stadiums, etc.

As we've seen from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the planet does not care what we've built and where we've built it.  The world is, like Buck Owens would say, acting naturally.

My underlying question is: based upon this analysis why can't we as humans understand that we are not invincible? Why can't we take advantage of the time we DO have here, whether it is coming to an end in 2012 or not? In my mind, the most important aspect of life is to do whatever it takes to be happy with myself and the things I do.