Water and air, almost nothing and virtually nothing at all, can, with constant motion, wear away rock or reduce it to sand and silt. In an eon surely, but at times in minutes, perfectly natural forces can alter the land irreparably. With an outer crust as well that is perpetually unstable, shifting and tearing, the earth has been formed for constant change, even as Man moving about the surface beguiles himself with dreams of permanence.

Add the evidence of what happens when living beings become entrapped in sticky fluids oozing and pooling from resin, or merely from the ground, and you have the three simple lessons nature offers, since long before we appeared on the planet, to teach us the value of adaptability, and the inevitable futility of persistence in certain objectives. Nothing lasts, but memory. And we forget that too. We will never outdo nature. Yet even when we submit to this truth, we overlook the power of these phenomena as metaphor. We need no better morals than the fables natural acts teach us.

by

If events of the past six years, or 25… 50… 100 or even 200 years have taught us anything it is that it doesn’t matter how well you have informed yourself as a nation. Or armed yourself. Or how rich you are. Even a very small band of individuals determined, or inspired, or desperate enough can bring you to your knees, sometimes by the simplest of means.

Sometimes one person, with enough grit and spontaneity, can stop a tank or release secrets that bring a government to a halt, if only to be exposed to the world for its excesses. Sometimes cunning and stealth are greater than superior strength or mass or numbers.

by