Faith + Reason = Truth

A prediction was made on Tax Day, April 15 of this year, by myself to some co-workers on the walk back from lunch, along the lines of "ya know, we're overdue for an earthquake or something, aren't we?  Probably somewhere in Asia; it's been too long since a natural disaster like that, and they always seem to kill 10 or 20,000 people somewhere in Asia."  April 17, an earthquake struck Afghanistan, but thankfully only a handful of people lost their lives (these Asian disasters tend to register loss of life in the thousands or tens of thousands, rather than merely the tens).
To me, we weren't out of the woods yet with that earthquake.  I tend to look at massive loss of life in natural disasters as God's or nature's way of "thinning the herd."  If the human population were to grow unchecked by tsunami, earthquake, flood, or disease, then the only regularly-occurring calamitous loss of life event left would be war, and wars just don't take very many lives these days.  Hundreds of thousands, even millions, used to die every generation or two in armed conflict, but that doesn't happen anymore.
Which leads us to last week's swine flu scare.  After dodging the Asian earthquake bullet and then seeing the first obscure headlines about a few people dying of an unknown flu virus in Mexico, it seemed fairly apparent that this was a pandemic unfolding exactly as the experts have been predicting for decades now, which is to say, a previously unknown killer quietly coming out of nowhere and making its deadly way through one of the largest cities on earth before anyone even knew about it.  The only thing that has saved us thus far is that it just happened to not possess a very deadly genetic makeup.  Of course, that could change with a mutation here or there, but the scientists tell us it does not appear likely to do so.
We may have dodged another bullet, but if you paid attention in any history class you ever took, you realize that vast, unforeseen loss of human life all at once is the rule, not the exception.  Why do I bring up these awful thoughts?  Here's why:  if you truly understand, if you honestly believe, that it's a question of when and not if, then you would probably live your life differently than you do.  Different choices would be made, and for different reasons.  Maybe you could find some more joy in avoiding conflict and in smoothing things over and in helping anyone you're able to help, rather than trying always to best others at any cost.  Perhaps you could try harder to make your corner of the world better, not worse.  I don't know.  The other night after my late-night Wal-Mart grocery trip, I went up to my car to unload my groceries into the trunk.  A lady came up to me, and I saw her coming a mile away, hoping she wouldn't ask for "help," because I know I almost never give parking lot wanderers any money and always feel guilty, greedy, bad.  But she did, and for some reason I pulled out my wallet to give her a dollar (I had no change in my pocket).  All I had were 20's.  And for some reason, I gave her a 20.  She was very thankful, blessed me, and wandered off while I unloaded my groceries.  When I drove out of the parking lot I saw her hitting up someone else unloading theirs.
There's not a moral to the story, a lesson to be learned, a life that was somehow changed for the better or worse because of a good or stupid deed.  It's just life.  Life should be about helping people you're able to help, even if they're not family, even if you don't know them at all.  I do know that as hard as I try, I still find myself feeling like a complete ass way too often while thinking about arguing with someone or being selfish or less helpful than I could should have been, so there's infinite room for improvement for me.  How about you?