Easter weekend, I made a trip to Austin to visit my children and grandchildren.
It seemed I was traveling the route the recent tornado took. My little town
had been spared the complete destruction that nearby towns had experienced.
How easy it is to overlook the extent of pain and suffering when it happens in
other places.
As I drove along the country roads, it seemed I had stepped into another
reality--one of destruction--like a war zone. I was horrified at the devastation
the tornado had wreaked across the area. Trees were stripped of their leaves
and cast about like spilled boxes of broken matches.
I fought back tears, realizing how vulnerable humanity is in the scheme of
living in this world. There were all kinds of people working to make things
better for those who were impacted. Road crews with their machines and
relief workers handing-out supplies.
Beyond this observation, I now understood we humans are just one type of
creature residing on earth. There are other creatures feeling the loss from a
tornado wiping-out their basic living needs.
I looked up to the sky. It seemed about every 10 miles or so, a collection of
buzzards floated above, spiraling, twisting, and turning. Too many to count.
Then, the realization hit me--these carrion birds were surveying the tornado
damage and, in their manner, were clearing the roads of the debris, too.
Expanding this insight further, I asked myself how many creatures lost their
lives and their homes in the woods and trees when the tornado passed
through their world?
Perhaps we humans should consider the other creatures when they, too,
are ravaged by nature’s fury?
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