Riding the whirlwinds

Our nephew and family got power back in their New York home a week after Superstorm Sandy smashed the US East Coast. That storm left dozens dead and millions without power. Now, they’re crossing fingers that the new “nor’easter” storm won’t hit them. Over 60,000 homes in New Jersey have already lost power --- again.

Filipinos know that pain. In a typical year,19 tropical storms barrel into the Philippine Area of Responsibility. In November 1991, Typhoon Uring ( Thelma) killed, 5,101. “Ormoc was a scene from Holocaust where bodies were stacked upon each other like logs.”

Typhoon “Rosing (Angela)” hit in October 1995, a day after Typhoon “Pepang” ravaged the Visayas. Death toll: 936. We will leave, for another day, discussion on weather going awhack. Here for now are some thoughts “On Nature and Nature’s God from Walter Russel Mead. --- JLM.

“For each one of us, the waters will someday rise, the winds spin out of control, the roof come off the house and the power will go out --- for good. Storm Sanday reminded ( all ) how fragile the world we humans build really is.

Every inch of Manhattan ’s surface has been covered by something manmade. Valleys have been exalted, mountains laid low and rough places plain. Those who live and do their business there pay very little attention to the natural world most of the time

Transformers exploded on both sides of the Hudson river and salt water surged into the tunnels and subways, due to the storm. For a little while ( all remember ) that we live in a world shaped by forces that are bigger than we are.

Soon, the winds will die down and the waters recede. Sandy will fade, Things will return to “normal” But Sandy wasn’t an interruption of abnormality into a sane world; it was a reminder of what the world really is like. Human beings want to build lives that exclude what we can't control. But we can't.

Storms are a symbol. The day is coming, for all of us, when a storm throws our lives in utter disarray. Jobs disappear. A relationship falls apart. The doctor says the test results are not good.

Soon, for each one of us, the waters will rise, winds spin out of control, the power will go out for good. We can protect ourselves from a storms by taking proper precautions;. But a storm is coming which the strongest walls, sturdiest retirement plans, the best doctors cannot protect us from..

Coming to terms with that reality is the most important thing we can do. A storm reminds us that 'normal life' must someday break apart. Take advantage of this passing storm to think about the greater storm that is coming for us all.

A powerful woman we knew died after two encounters with cancer and a devastating stroke. She'd grown up in a segregated South where many churchgoers defended institutionalized cruelty She rebelled against ritualized religious life around her.

But late in life, when the winds howled and the dark waters rose, she was driven to face the truth behind the illusions. And she told the person she loved best I that "I've made my peace with God."

That is something we all need to do. It involves a recognition of our insufficiency before the mysteries and limits of life. It begins with an acknowledgment of failure and defeat. We each try to build a self-sufficient world, that is proof against storms and disasters. But none of us can really get that done.

Strangely, that admission of weakness opens the door to a new kind of strength. To accept weakness is to ground our lives more firmly in truth. To be grounded in reality is to become more alive.

Denial is hard work. Those who try to stifle their awareness of the limits of human life and ambition in the busy rounds of daily life never reach their full potential.

To open our eyes to the fragility of life and to our dependence on that which is infinitely greater than ourselves is to enter more deeply into life. To come to terms with the radical insecurity, in which we all live, is to find a more reliable kind of security.

The joys and occupations of ordinary life aren't all there is to existence. But neither are the all-destroying storms. There is a calm beyond the storm, and the same force that sends these storms into our lives offers a peace and security that no storm can destroy.

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,." he Psalmist says. Accepting our limits and dependence on things we can't control is the first step on the road toward finding that joy.

Storms like Sandy ( or Typhoon like Sendong ) helps all , step back from our daily lives, and reach out to a Power who plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.

Connecting with the highest Power of all, not only gives you a place of refuge when the big storm finally comes; it transforms daily life and infuses ordinary occupations with greater meaning and wonder than we ever understood.

Our world needs people who have that kind of strength and confidence. Storms are transforming the political horizons of Asia, jolting the Middle East and recasting the world economy.

It will take strong and grounded people to ride these storms Paradoxically, it is only by coming to terms with our limits and weakness that we can find the strength and the serenity to face what lies ahead.*

(Email: juan_mercado77@yahoo.com)

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