Taming a season of disaster

Is it a rule in life that problems can occur like the bursting of a dam and pull a person apart in different directions in order to respond to situations needing immediate action. Most times life seems like a straight line that has no sharp ups and downs and the movement is like a soft flowing river. And then from nowhere comes barriers and there is no longer fluidity but a harshness to get through the obstacles.

The arrival of spring in this part of the world has been delayed by the obstinacy of a winter that refused to go. In the process of waiting for the coming of a new season, a natural disaster in the form of a volcanic eruption took place in neighbouring Iceland and sent ashes in all directions. Many European countries were forced to stop all flights and passengers were stranded in airports without immediate alternative transportation. The eruption may have slowed down but it is not altogether sure if the angry volcano will not spew out more ashes.

If it were not enough with a natural catastrophe, the next was a man-made disaster that sent shock waves down Europe's spine. It was (is) the news of Greece imminent financial collapse that pummeled all stock markets to fall to the level of the 2008 financial crisis. If there was a modest recovery made in the last six months in terms of improved share prices, all that simply went down the drain. A huge question comes up on why and how one country like Greece could affect strongly other economies, as well as financial markets. But as any educated guess one can make, there are no national borders when it comes to money and finances.

As ordinary people that most of us are, we find ourselves affected in various ways by the external world where we have little or no influence at all. In the immediate world we live in - with the nearest concerns of work and family, the battles fought are the effects of the bigger world's happenings. Many jobs disappear in the market, companies use retrenchment policies to reduce cost and inflation sends the prices of commodities and services up. The stress brought about by all these untamed happenings is too unbearable that happiness becomes elusive.

If the coming of spring as a season is delayed, the feeling of delay is magnified by a sense of lethargy that holds back our own life's renewal. It is the feeling of being stuck under a rock because there are just too many things going on all at the same time. The opposite side of that rule in life - if indeed it is life's natural course, would be the sudden arrival of many things that bring about happiness and joy. A basket of rotten eggs becomes a basket of golden eggs. If that is how life proceeds then one can only hope that we can tame sooner the hostilities of a season of disaster.#