Monday With More Rain
Climate change is manifest by extreme weather events. Over the past two days the backyard has soaked up so much water that a footfall instantly produces water welling up around my shoe. It’s 6PM and rain continues to fall. Recently I read that Anglo-Saxon England of the 10th century was also going through a warm spell. Meteorologists describe this warm epoch of the Middle Ages as the “Little Optimum.” Edinburgh enjoyed the climate of London, while London enjoyed the climate of the Loire Valley in France. This was a difference of 2 – 4 degrees. In modern terms it would be as if the climate of San Francisco moved north to Seattle.
The warmer climate is used to explain the Viking explosion into Russia, France, Iceland and the northwestern Atlantic. Icebergs and the pack-ice retreated under the impact of warmer temperatures.
So we are having more rain that usual. Time will tell if the amount is marginally more or a lot more. Today at least I did not have to worry about a Viking invasion, –dragon headed long boats loaded with rapacious marauders, bent on plunder. Neither did I have the problem of an early 20th Century mob of inflamed Turks hunting down Armenians in our community.
I was privileged to view the film, The Promise this afternoon with a friend. My friend’s ancestors lived through the holocaust when the Ottoman Turks sought to eliminate their Armenian citizens. Eliminate as in the murder of 1.5 million people. Though it was a film I cringed at the off hand cruelty, the inhumanity between fellow countrymen. Physical labor, dehydration, starvation, firing squads and disease were all brought to bear. Was viewing this film enjoyable? No. Was it valuable? Yes.
What is it “in us” humans that causes us to cultivate a murderous resolve to eliminate any trace of a people familiar to us, –a people who have some cultural differences? Why such a murderous intolerance of difference? I believe such dark potential resides in each and every one of us.
I’ve thought about this off and on for many years.
A few minutes ago I read the news feed that the current administration is eliminating the “Let Girls Learn” education initiative championed by Michelle Obama. The program provided education opportunities for adolescent girls. It will discontinue immediately. I doubt they will be satisfied until all trace of the former president’s two terms are erased from public policy.
