Life & Death Situation

En route to the grocery store today I was pleasantly reminded of the tenacity of nature.

Months ago workers prepping a site for construction had decimated a row of mature hedges; trunks hacked through 5 or so inches from the ground. Now, several stubborn branches – thick with leaves – have emerged on the trunklets. Seeing this made me smile – and wish I was more like a hedge. If I were a shrubbery, even if I were cut off at the ankles, I would continue to thrive against all odds.

Seeing the hedge also made me think of the History Channel’s Life After People. Cheesy 3-D animation and customary History Channel repetition aside, I found this documentary compelling. It was exhilarating to see how quickly nature might cover up, destroy, and delete all evidence of human existence. My partner found it depressing as hell. Of particular interest to me was the segment on Chernobyl. An entire village condemned by radiation is naturally resurrecting in the absence of humans. I was all fired up at the end of it. Wide-eyed and wild I ranted, “Drop the bomb, drop it now! Hit the reset button and undo the massive crimes against nature that humans have committed since the industrial revolution!” I felt I would happily sacrifice mine and everyone else’s life to give the world back to itself – even if it could only be a sick, mutated version of the world.

Wow – I even scare myself sometimes. The U.S. is worried about North Korea accessing weapons of mass destruction – they should probably be more worried about me.