The Buick is a mess. My car hasn't looked this bad since Mt. St. Helens erupted awhile back. Windblown dirt last week coated it, and was followed by sprinkles of rain. This created grubby leopard spots, reminiscent of the flocked foil wallpaper popular in the 1970's. No time to wash or wax, as I'm still trying to find the sweet spot in the wiring for the driver's side rear turn signal.
Huh? What's that you're saying?
The big Mt. St. Helens eruption that dusted vehicles in Nebraska with volcanic ash was twenty-five years ago???? Half my life ago!? Are you sure?
KENNETH CHANG wrote about Mt. St. Helens in the New York Times of November 29th. I'd kind of forgotten that Mt. St. Helens has been erupting in a fairly low-key way for a couple years now. Geologists are surprised that this slow-mo eruption has occurred so soon after the 1980 biggie.
What is twenty-five years in the geologic time scheme? A blink of an eye or less. What forces are at work? Those way beyond our ken, to use a crossword puzzle word. We are each just a sniffle or an itch on the Major Cosmic Time Line. If you feel really self-important, maybe you rate a wink. Mt. St. Helens, Pompeii, and Krakatoa are just the self-conscious zit-fussing of Geologic Adolescents.
The forces moving continental plates, whether designed or impressively self-motivated, grind along steadily, unenthused by our ridiculous religious squabbles.
Small self-serving minds do not wish to consider such large time-frames. Ethics, responsibility, conservatorship, and stargazing wonder are so totally out of style in the Era of Dubya. Perhaps the current powers that be will be surprised when swallowed in a tar pit of their own deceits, asphyxiated in an ashfall of their own rhetoric, or swept away by the melting glacier of their arrogance.
Igneous MagmaMama suggests we ought not sit here sedimentarily while layers of wisdom are buried under the silt of lies mixed with aggregates of excuses and broken promises. It's time to apply heat and pressure to cause transformation. You may be whichever Metamorphic Power Ranger you prefer!
Younger than springtime, are you
Softer than starlight, are you,
Warmer than winds of June,
Are the gentle lips you gave me.
Gayer than laughter, are you,
Sweeter than music, are you,
Angel and lover, heaven and earth,
Are you to me.
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