When one survives an ice storm such as the one that recently brought Chicago to a stand-still or when one comes out unscathed  of raging floods, a crushing landslide or has been spared by a volcanic eruption – it is never a matter of random luck. For heaven’s sake! Even catching the flu or getting pregnant is neither a matter of bad or good luck.

Anyway, Category 5 cyclone Yasi hit our coastline a few days ago. According to the experts, Yasi was statistically bigger than & wider than & stronger than … any other preceding cyclone including our cyclone Larry & U.S. cyclone Katrina.
The *system* was so huge that I can’t begin to comprehend its mass but this snip goes some way into clarifying: “It is so large it would almost cover the United States, most of Asia and large parts of Europe.

The pre-landfall core was over 500km wide and its associated activity stretched well over 2000km.” [1]

Rather that paraphrase however objectively, here is another snip:
“It’s just amazing. It’s like a nuclear bomb has gone off,” said a resident of Mission Beach, a town that found itself in Yasi’s path.

BARBARA MILLER: How would you describe people’s mood as they’re wandering around? Do they seem stunned or are they busy getting on with things?

RON DARLINGTON: No, in a daze. In shock. Just pointing, looking, stopping. They’re not even taking pictures. They’re just walking around in a daze, hands in their pockets, wondering what the hell has happened, what was that? [2]

Bottom line: Yasi has wreaked tremendous devastation over an amazingly large area – a populated area. That happened in the wake, literally, of the turbulent floods that submerged most of the south east corner of Australia, all the way down o Brisbane, the capital city and way below into the state of Victoria –it all amounts to a BIG, huge, gynormous piece of land.

I will dare say that in these floods *only* 35 people perished –quite amazing, really, that so few lives were swept away considering the thousands of flood miles that filled every nook and cranny… all the way up to the rafters.

Perhaps even more amazing, is the fact that, though Yasi uprooted massive trees and shredded homes, businesses and all manner of infrastructure, it spared everyone that happened to be, antlike, burrowed under its huge wild footprint – except a 23 year old man who died asphyxiated by generator fumes.

My unspiritual energy tonight has to do with hearing on the news more unwitting survivors break down, wherever Angry Nature has struck, as they contemplate their personal financial losses. They are overwhelmed by the thankless task of cleaning up and rebuilding in the fastest possible time whatever has been taken away and … that’s about it.

I have yet to read about an interviewee flicking mud or icicles or blood off their person or putting down the mop or the chain saw to say that, though unfortunate the destruction, losses and setbacks, s/he is GRATEFUL to the powers above [make that a god, their soul or to the power of Nature] that the cyclone, mud slide, volcano, earthquake or that snow/ice storm has spared them – and how humbling is this realization – and how differently they have begun to re-prioritize their *priorities*.

I would like SOMEONE, a *normal* person, if you know what I mean – not a religious zealot, not a doom’s day wannabe prophet – to clearly state that they do UNDERSTAND that their physical wellbeing has absolutely nothing to do with LUCK and that, furthermore, there is no such thing as LUCK – not even bad luck.

And because luck has nothing to do with it – they, we, all of us need to thank our soul for having stirred us a hair’s breath away from fatal danger.

Gratitude – not mere incomprehension or relief – is what we ought to feel.

But, you, dear Reader, what do you think?
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