Some Thoughts After Rain

These photos showed up in my Facebook Memories yesterday, reminding me of a rainy day on a beautiful stretch of the Hudson River at Moreau, taken almost exactly one year ago. I had come here to paddle, but before I set off, I stood and gazed at the river, feeling blessed to live in such a beautiful and seemingly unchanging part of the world. A gentle rain fell straight from the sky. An ethereal mist rose among the forested mountains along the shore. 

The rain soon eased, then stopped, although drops still fell from overhanging trees.  Circular ripples danced on the silvery surface of the river.

The river soon calmed to a mirror-like stillness.

Gratefulness filled my being and spilled from my eyes as tears of joy. How blessed I felt to live where nature's beauty surrounds me every day.

  

What a contrast between these serenely beautiful scenes of nature at its most peaceful and what I beheld on the news this week:  horrific images of surging seawaters and raging winds demolishing whole communities along America's coasts and in the Caribbean.  My tears today are of sadness for those who are suffering terribly from nature's ravages.  And not just for those so deeply damaged by Hurricane Ian, but also for people  -- and animals! -- all over the world whose lives have been and will be changed forever by the storms and droughts and wildfires and sea-rise made ever more horrendous by the effects of climate change.  I may live now where those effects are less immediately evident, but it's becoming more and more obvious that those effects are real and growing worse. When will we demand that our political leaders address this issue with the seriousness it requires?