Staring out of the airplane I’m reminded how little we really are. How tiny every second, every hair follicle, fingernail clipping – germ, cell & infection is. How can one even imagine the make-up of such a small particle while looking across miles & miles of terrain that dwarfs football fields, parking lots, amusement parks and resort properties. My life is so much greater after viewing God’s creations from a window of a small Continental jet.
It sounds dumb, a realization coming from a midair flight. It is the truth though. I watch as what seems to be a brush fire from what must be 20-30 miles away, streams a smoke like an arrow pointing to the lands’ current problems. The people it is impacting must be scared – afraid of the outcome. Me, I will be 4 states away in an hour and think nothing of it. The smoke makes a jet-stream effect across the sky from wind currents blowing seeds, dirt and moisture – that will one day create the terrain I will fly over 20 years from now.
I’m worried about whether or not my DVR recorded my favorite shows and if my wife was able to stay up until the time I arrive… and all these changes and events take place without even a second of thought from my end. It is sad really. Life moves, changes and rearranges according to a schedule that I have little to no effect over. Or do I?
I am looking down the rows of people journeying this same journey that I am… looking at magazines… reading about Britney Spears and her latest antics, reading about feature films and studying for exams. Our flight attendant is talking about her jewelry and how she picked up from a shop in Indianapolis – I am sure it means more to her than I, but all of it seems trivial as I watch another fire in the distance. I am sure it was caused by a discarded cigarette or some other form of human invention that God never intended his great creation to withstand.
That’s how it works though right… whatever makes us happy, whatever makes things easy enough that we can sleep in our lazy-boy or not have to sweat while we are outside watering the yard. That selfish attitude… the one that has caused our beautiful land to deteriorate slowly in front of our eyes. I say slowly, but lately it seems our world is changing at a quicker rate.
Seeing commercials on TV about the new Hybrid car or how using the new GE lightbulb will save energy – all of it seems small, but after seeing just what it will save (from the window of our plane)… I’m onboard. If that great Mississippi River was to turn to trash and those foothills in Tennessee were to fill with oil rigs… I couldn’t help but think how planting that tree; replacing that light bulb or recycling that last water bottle would have done more to save what is left of our environment.
Green? Sign me up.
Nice pics James.
It’s funny how you can see all the damage that we do to the earth when you get so high up in the sky. We are getting a glimpse of what God sees all the time.