There’s something actually disturbing about “messages of comfort and support” (see https://www.oikoumene.org/news/amid-california-fires-we-have-the-certainty-of-the-accompaniment-of-the-love-of-god) for victims of disasters when there is NO TALK of working on addressing the causes of the conditions that create more and more of these disasters. Of course, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with this message, such as the one I shared, but when we hear all of this while scarcely anything is being done to address it, and even facing those who ridicule the notion that we humans had any culpability in the Ecological Emergency unfolding around us. It’s been unfolding for quite some time, and becoming all the more critical as we continue to ignore it; continue to fail in setting any serious priorities to change this cultural and economic condition.

I’m starting to roll my eyes now, after a weekend of playoff games in college and the pros where crowds were asked to “observe a moment of silence (which seems to last all of 3-4 seconds, as if this is all that can be asked before we “go back to what we were doing” in masse, further beckoning more of what we are “observing” by our “moment of silence”. Reminds me so much of the “Thoughts and prayers” offered for victims of mass shootings, while obvious means to address the conditions resulting in this epidemic of shootings are continuously ignored. “Thoughts and Prayers” rings hollow. It spells death, actually, when it comes right down to it.