What could be more apt as an introduction to such a topic than "TREES" by Joyce Kilmer? This is totally from memory of an old codger, so I hope I don't screw it up too badly!


"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree that may in Summer wear,
A nest of robins in her hair.

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts its leafy arms to pray.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree!"

If I missed any verses... SORRY, JOYCE!

NATURE REIGNS SUPREME

Copyright: 9/18/07 - Tom Hyland


Nature Rains. Nature Reins. Nature Reigns… Supreme.

All three of these simple declaratory sentences are in fact, true . But let us take a few moments to examine each statement.

In the first instance, RAINS - the Good Lord knows how truthful that is. With all of his advanced technology, inventions, and other paraphernalia, man cannot control the weather, can he? From a simple Sunday afternoon picnic, cookout, or trip to the beach, ballgame, or whatever - how many times have we been RAINED OUT? Oh, we try to improvise, and make the best of it, don’t we? Raincoats and parkas with hoods, umbrellas and rubbers, tents and awnings, and other forms of shelter - yes, we may struggle on, determined to make the best of it; but ultimately, Mother Nature RULES, and we get WET!

That’s the good part, the easy part; but when the circumstances are worse, and more powerful, we simply do not have a ‘snowballs chance in hell’ to stop the elements. Consider things like: thunderstorms, tornados, tidal waves, horrific hurricanes, or at worst - TSUNAMIS. Nature pounds us with wind and water, and only one word properly describes the results - DEVASTATION! Land, buildings, vehicles, life and limb, and all of our possessions, or chattels are DESTROYED! Millions or even billions of dollars are LOST!

One need only look at current pictures of parts of New Orleans and various other cities and towns of Louisiana and Mississippi in order to be reminded of KATRINA. On the other side of the world, the same is true in parts of Sri Lanka and India, and their nearby islands, from the last tragic tsunami. While on a smaller scale than these just mentioned, and affecting less people, we would be remiss to forget THE PERFECT STORM! DEATH and DESTRUCTION from Nature.

The second statement, REINS, is certainly self-evident from that which I have just stated, in that, Nature controls, or reins, what man may or may not do, at any given time during any of these dreadful occurrences. We are LIMITED. We can try to prepare, when proper forewarnings, or forecasts are delivered in a timely fashion.

We may ‘board up’ buildings. We may move to higher ground. We may gather emergency supplies and whatnot. But in the last analysis, we must ‘WAIT OUT’ the storm. We may operate rescue missions, and hopefully save some lives and belongings, and even some of our precious PETS - GOD BLESS ‘EM! But, it is only AFTER THE CALM that we can then begin to REBUILD, to RE-CONSTRUCT, and to attempt to return to NORMALITY.

Yes, my friends, not unlike breaking a wild stallion, Nature is the BOSS! She controls the reins. Man is just a PUPPET, against such a volatile FORCE. Nature REINS!

In the third, and final statement of fact - REIGNS - it is necessary to make a conscious effort to utilize our five BASIC SENSES: Taste, Smell, Hearing, Sight, and Touch.

Taste the salinity, which has invaded our freshwater areas in any aftermath. Smell the decay of bloated, rotting bodies and floating, dead fish, spoiled food, and disgusting mold that envelops everything. Listen for the void, or absence of what used to be, the melodious singing of birds, and chirping of little critters like crickets. Touch the muck, and rot, and mildew, and slimy desecrations that have covered over mankind’s valued possessions. GONE! ALL GONE! That which once was is no more!

Returning to the use of our eyes, have you ever been stopped, in your vehicle, waiting for a traffic signal to change, and just happen to notice GREEN things: grass, weeds, wildflowers and or other PLANTS that are growing up miraculously, on their own… in CONCRETE, or ASPHALT, or even in metal rain-gutters of buildings? I HAVE… MANY TIMES!

Or how about those huge, tall, seemingly endless rows of CONCRETE and STONE SOUND BARRIERS, all along highways and roadways… haven’t you SEEN those natural growing vines, weeds, plants, and sometimes even TREES? Nature’s RECLAMATION of HER EARTH is never ending, forever growing, eventually COVERING UP ALL SIGNS OF MANKIND’S EXISTENCE.

Parenthetical Note: Could that be the logical reason for our allowing the importation of thousands upon thousands of ILLEGAL ALIENS… for MOWING and LANDSCAPING?

Quite some time ago, I wrote a brief treatise about: GERMS, GERMINATION, and other microscopic topics, whereupon I enumerated some simple, self-evident facts. A teensy-weensy seed, or GERM, plus a natural supply of moisture, or WATER, and a few specks of DIRT, with its natural fertilizers therein, add an occasional few rays of SUNLIGHT for warmth, and VOILA! GERMINATION OCCURS, almost spontaneously! NATURE REIGNS!

Maintaining this same plane of thought, now consider the vast RUINS of prior civilizations, like: the AZTECS, the MAYANS, the INCAS, the ancient EGYPTIANS… when man is NO MORE, the jungles over-run and COVER man’s evidence of being there. Likewise, the endless winds and shifting sands BURY even huge monuments, like the PYRAMIDS. Or, how about the destruction and burial of cities by volcanic eruption, with lava and ash, like... POMPEII? NATURE REIGNS!

As I ponder such magnificent power and natural devotion to CONTINUATION of Nature, I find myself in AWE! We, small insignificant beings, just like pismires in colonies... NEED Nature and her BALANCE just to SURVIVE!

WE NEED: Clean AIR to breathe (you know, like from our factories and chemical manufacturing plants { buildings, not green growing ones }, fresh, clean WATER to drink { that wonderful, manmade, chlorinated, fluorinated TAP water, that IDIOTS pay good money for }, fresh FOOD to eat { not natural, but plants that are sown, cultivated, sprayed, and grown SUPER-SIZED, with chemical compounds, additives, and other things, like DDT and other pesticides, not to mention the various livestock, injected with that STUFF that many of our professional athletes engorge upon }, and last but not least, SHELTER { you know, the wood stolen from nature by destroying all her forests, along with millions of tons of WEIGHT from steel, concrete, and glass, deposited in brilliant places, like HILLSIDES, to be WASHED AWAY WHEN THE RAINS COME, and SKYSCRAPERS to ATTRACT and provide TARGETS for TERRORISTS }… yes, Pilgrims, we NEED NATURE!

But guess what? NATURE DOES NOT NEED US!

SHE WILL GO ON, AFTER WE BLOW OUR MUTUAL ARSES TO KINGDOM COME!

“Rain, Rein, Reign… go away, come back again some other day…”


NATURE REIGNS SUPREME ---
and you can BANK on it!


J-PAL… Joy - Peace - Abundance -

Love … TOM.