Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Sodom and Gomorrah in the 21st Century...

For the past few weeks I’ve been asking myself what is going wrong with the world.
First was this thing about planes falling from the sky as if they were drops of rain. Then these weird natural occurrences on which we have no say whatsoever. The something occurred to me: is this the beginning of the end?
Do you actually know how many people have died in the last 2 months due to airplane accidents? Furthermore, do you know how many planes have crashed in the past 2 months? Hell, even here in the DR we've had 3 planes crashing down and one that almost did: one that didn’t make it to the runway, one that appeared burnt in the middle of a highway with no apparent reason whatsoever, one involving a stupid bastard that decided to say hi to his girlfriend and flew 6 meters from the ground, taking with him a few power lines, and finally one that had to make an emergency landing.
There is something about these floods, tsunamis and hurricanes that seemed familiar to me somehow. Then, out of nowhere, it came to me: the Biblical story about how God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of all the sins and things that were happening there. Then I wondered, has God got something against the US that we don’t know about? Furthermore, has he/she got something against humanity? Is this the beginning of the much feared Apocalypse?
It is no secret that New Orleans is no Vatican City. I mean, come on! Do you think people pray and hold mass during Mardi Gras (beads for every Hail Mary!)? But then again, were the sins taking place there to such amount that God actually decided to “level” it and start over?
I’m no religious freak, but these things really do seem weird to me. We (and by we I mean the DR) are right smack in the middle of the way of the tropical hurricane highway. Whenever a hurricane forms on the coasts of Africa (where Tropical Atlantic hurricanes are usually formed), they usually hit us first (now this "us" refers to the Greater Antilles). Strangely, the past few years, the DR has been graciously spared from these hurricanes (Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico have been hit, but we haven’t), either because they take an "alternate route" or get formed when they have already crossed our territory.
The US, on the other hand, has suffered greatly from our gain. Katrina hit Florida and then devastated Louisiana and Mississippi. A couple of weeks later, Ophelia and today Rita. Need more proof?
When this hurricane season started, the meteorologists from the National Hurricane Center said that this was going to be a busy year, but I guess we didn’t know how busy it was going to be. As everyone knows, the cyclones, tropical storms or tropical depression are named using letters of the Roman alphabet. When all the letters are used, letters from the Greek alphabet are used. We are 4 letters away from going thru the Roman alphabet. This has never happened. NEVER. And we are just 4 letters away from it. (For more weather info, check out National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Tropical Prediction Center in association with the National Hurricane Center's site)
Anyways, back to the subject. People think we have nothing to do with occurrences of nature, but I disagree. Did God create the hole in the Ozone layer? Did God make us fall into sin? He gave us free will, have we used it correctly? (talk about all that hairspray used in the 80's!)
I believe we are the forgers of our future. I also believe we are given the tools and it’s up to us to make things good.
I was taught that God is a God of love. I was also taught that we should never question his doings because in the end, no matter how bad things may be, everything he does is for a reason and for our own benefit. Yet, I wonder if we have been doings things they way we are supposed to according to his plan.
Well, I hear some horses coming in the distance, so I guess I’d better go gather my things and get prepared for what's to come…

8 comments:

Bracuta said...

Right on! You don't know the things that happen down here. If it were seen under a fundamentalist religious note, we should've been erased from the face of the planet ages ago!
I really think that these things always happen, the thing is that we never take notice.
I don't think NO, or any place in the world for that matter, really do deserve anything bad to happen to them. Si fuera por eso, no sólo DR sino muchos países hace rato que no existieran. We only have to be alive to see things happen.
If we study world history, we will see this things happening over and over again. Lo que pasa es que, como tú dices, people actually do need some explanation for them. Take some extremists and this will really turn into the end of the world... Although this really makes me wanna think... lol


Honestly, these thing happen because they do, there are no "hidden reasons" behind them... no wrath from God or unknown scripture... but I'll still freshen up on my horseback riding just in case!

Anonymous said...

por que insisten en escribir en inglés?...estan en Rep. Dom., escriban en su idioma, orgullosamente.

Anonymous said...

Cuál es el problema de que escriba en ingles? Deje que la muchacha escriba en el idioma que le de la gana. Si usted no entiende ingles, aprenda y punto.

Anonymous said...

Bracuta puede escribir en el idioma que le parezca. Su audiencia no solamente incluye personas que hablan espanol, y seria muy laborioso escribir en ambos idiomas.
Por ultimo, mas que estar en RD, su espacio es el internet, y ella puede escribir en el idioma que mejor le plazca, por no decir la palabra con G.

Si tienen algun problema, cojan clases en el Dominico u otra escuela de idiomas.

Respeten el derecho de expresion de Bracuta y esto incluye el idioma en el que ella desee expresar sus ideas. DR

Reda said...

If God (in the purely christian aspect) is involved in this you shouldn't be asking "has God got something against the US that we don’t know about?". You know that the US has caused a lot of pain and death in the world with no other reason than greed.

In the other hand... I think God is nature, and nature is neither good nor evil. Nature's like that. It cleans the earth. That's nature.

God? he's not a dumb and capricious "being" that creates a humanity to destroy it. How can you know everything, past, present and future, and create human beings knowing before creating them that he'll have to punish them by destroying earth. Come on! we're destroying ourselves.

Go ask the US why they don't ratify the kyoto protocol against global warming. That's why! the reason for the flooding! Globlal Warming. Look no more, blame no God. Man and Nature, it's a fight. She's winning.

Diego said...

Esas son vainas de Pat Robertson y Jerry Falwell decir que es dios que manda las calamidades. Yo no creo en Dios, pero en el caso de que existiera, creo que sería lo suficientemente inteligente y serio para entrarle a los que de verdad hacen el daño (Bush, Hipólito, Leonel, por ejemplo), y no a los habitantes de los de los estados más pobres de gringolandia.

Anonymous said...

Hola Bracuta,eso que la R.D.ha sido dichosa por que no la ha tocado ningun huracan,es verdad,PERO,le ha tocado las plagas de los tres partidos politicos mas corruptos de la bolita del mundo,tantos crimenes y tanta maldad en nuestro pais es peor que cualquier huracan aunque sea un numero 5.Vivo en USA,por mas de 40 anos y solo hago turismo en mi pais,(aparte de algunos cruceros)y da pena las historias de crimenes que pasan en nuestra media Isla.En cuanto a Dios y las calamidades,la biblia habla bien claro de los finales de este mundo,y el que no crea en el y su santo hijo,perecera,y los que se jactan de decir que no creen en el(como si a Dios le importara un satanico mas)cuando mueran,veran que Dios es verdad.Siga haciendo un buen trabajo,no importa en que lenguaje,pero bueno.Esa es una virtud de sus trabajos que siempre leo y respeto.Suerte y Dios la bediga....Azaiter

Hetayra said...

It has become one of my daily tasks to review your Blog and see what new brain-rattling entries you have for us for the day Bracuta... I have really come to enjoy your entries... Thank you for your contributions to our lives…

In my opinion, I believe in "the balance." Everything has a beginning and an end, and everything has its purpose. Including natural disasters as well as blessings. We cannot expect to go on living forever. The same way we cannot expect the world and the way things have been to remain the same forever. I believe its all in the way we choose to see things, and I choose to believe there is a superior plan that we are not prepared to know about. And its a changing plan that is based on the choices we make on a daily basis, including those that affects us all at once (presidential & governmental decisions) as well as those that we feel affect us personally.

There is a balance in everything and the balance of life is death, as well as the balance of a beginning is an end. We as humans with our lack of conscious knowledge of the happenings after death become obsessed with the why’s and the how’s of Nature, (which is due to our fear of the unknown.) We forget sometimes about the true and idealistically valuable things in life, and that is "trying to enjoy and value the moments in one's life as much as one can." The persisting questions of "What is happiness? Why are we here? Why the things that happen, happen? Why? Why? Why? are sometimes questions that if we take a moment and really seek the answers we will find it within ourselves. Sometimes the most complex questions can only be satisfied with the simplest answers. This was the time. The time is now. It was going to happen. Now its time to focus on a new beginning. A new shot at things. A new start, a new point of view, a new era where you are the same person, just with a few more hours or days older, but with a very new and extremely valuable new experience under your belt.

So my point is. Everything that happens in our life is based on choice. Every action heeds a re-action, and every decision is followed by its consequences. If we ‘choose’ to be positive, we will see everything with a positive point of view and will be more prone to settling with an answer and keep going to the next, and will be quick to learn from your mistakes and pick up the pieces. We have free will, and with this comes a huge responsibility. We all know what that is.