Nature's retaliation

In the last few days, I was glued to the T.V. watching the horrific images emerging from Japan and like most people, it's hard not to be emotionally affected by them. Even for a country that is so advanced and prepared for earthquakes and tsunamis, it just couldn't be prepared for a catastrophic disaster like this. It's time like this that we remember how fragile humans are, no matter how 'powerful' or 'rich' you are, you still can't avoid or predict death. We often forget how little control we have over our fate and yet we spend so much time and energy to be 'in control' and 'secure', how foolish are we?!

One day before the earthquake in Japan, another earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale hit Yunnan Province in China but it was over-shadowed by the bigger disaster in Japan. Both events make me feel that there is something seriously wrong with our planet now. I am not sure if earthquakes are happening more frequently in recent years but they are definitely happening in larger scales, think of Haiti, Chile, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, New Zealand and now Japan. Besides earthquakes and tsunamis, we are also seeing more extreme weathers like floods, snow, hurricanes and droughts etc. Despite the arguments between scientists and the global warming skeptics, I feel that one doesn't need to be a scientist to sense that something is not quite right!! Is this nature's retaliation on humans? Since we continue to destroy nature/ our environment, perhaps all these disasters are nature's way of warning us to stop behaving selfishly. In Buddhism, understanding the relationship between nature and humans is a key part of its teachings, and to me, it makes so much sense. We, humans need to understand that everything on this planet or in the cosmos is interlinked and we can't simply see ourselves as 'individuals' and act recklessly for our own benefits. We are our biggest enemies, and if we continue to be driven by greed, power and all kinds of destructive desires, it won't be long before we indirectly wipe ourselves out. The natural disaster and man-made nuclear threats in Japan are reminders for us to reflect and make changes, we must act mindfully and take responsibilities for our own actions for the sake of our planet and future generations.