Superstorm Sandy

          Sandy didn't wreak nearly as much mayhem here as predicted, and I'm grateful for that.  I know that she did untold damage down by the shore, and many people there are still reeling from the impact.  These extreme weather events are only going to become more frequent, and their severity is only going to increase, as the dirty energy industries continue to purchase governments and make sustainable energy less available.  It's amazing how we destroy the things we need most--land, air, water--in a frantic grab for things we don't need at all--air conditioning, private cars, newer, more, and bigger everything.  The saddest thing of all is that we end up investing ourselves in all these things that matter little, and we neglect the very things that could prevent catastrophe or give us the strength to survive it.  We are all going to need inner resources to carry us through the desperate times that are surely coming.  Now, before it all hits the fan, we need to cultivate inside ourselves a deep, abiding strength.  We need to develop a tenacious sense of hope, too.  Most of all, we must have courage.  The world as we know it will come unglued, but Life itself will find a new equilibrium...eventually.  The question is: Will we have the inner fortitude to stand by and watch everything we know collapse?  It's possible to remain joyful and grounded even amid calamity; I've seen it done.  But you have to invest yourself in meaningful causes--life-giving causes--before the storm makes landfall.
          How are they going to call a storm of that magnitude "Sandy"?  They should have given it a villainous name like Sabine, or Sybil, or Simone... On the other hand, NPR called Sandy "gigantic, sloppy, and slow-moving."  That sounds about like a lot of Sandies I've known...