Nature VS. Man

Nature is one of those things that make us ponder about life - the monotonous, clinical routine of city life and all the inflated, material fuss. The moment you surmount the pinnacle of a mountain or spend a consecutive duration of time without ostentatious luxuries, is when you realise the trivialities of existence. Very many people take life for granted and images for calendar embellishment.

Country stroll on a sunny day

I've hiked through enough meadows and had a wild share of my own mountaineering adventures to understand the concept of a life parallel with nature. Many important life lessons can be translated into the context of social, political, spiritual and economical dimensions.

Prelude to a tornado

Take for example an incoming disaster. This picture of a looming tornado, I feel, was well worth the sacrifice. As I was in my cabin, news reports were charging into the radio and television to stay indoors, followed by emergency protocols should the worst happen.
I was not allowed to venture further than this and look at the eye of the storm with my own.

But if we think about it, the maelstroms of war in  violence-plagued regions of Russia, Turkey, North Korea and the Middle East are not unlike the grey walls of encroaching natural calamities. It's hard to predict when they will come, notwithstanding calculated guesses (i.e.  the recent quakes in Japan and the Philippines). the indiscriminate damage and aftermath, and how distantly fictitious they look when we're safe from the destructive zone.

The impeccable wonder of visuals nature blesses us with is a harsh contrast to its rage. It's as though impunity is a gift to both the ignorant and blissful. Why are there riches and fame clamouring over one another for power -- and more -- when there are poverty and persecutions boiling deep under their foundations? The stark unfairness is blatant, yet, like nature's catastrophes, there's not much to be done.

A riverside

There's one difference, though. In hells on earth immersed with the most unliveable conditions, there are still peeks of calm and ease. It's a marvel that nature might be more transient than humans. We possess so much talent and cognitive intelligence, but we choose to defile it with perpetual war and civil unrest.

Fireflies and city bulbs in the twilight

There are an indefinite myriad of examples I could use by exploiting the fraternal adjectives of nature and man, illustrated in the photograph above. Some are good and some not so. This, in terms of currency and relevance, drives the most impact for me at the moment.