The people of Burma pay for our sins.

By now, I trust you've learned of the devastation wrought upon the people of Burma by a cyclone. The latest estimate I've seen has the death toll exceeding 22,000, with still thousands more missing and feared to have suffered the same fate. I don't know what I hope to accomplish by sharing my thoughts on the matter; nonetheless, I hereby present them in as coherent a manner as my limited vocabulary allows.

There have been cries calling for attention to "climate change", as the frequency and ferocity of these storms is a likely result thereof. To me, this seems a logical assumption, but I wish to take it a bit further. At least as far as my awareness goes, most of the attention has been on the pollutants we release into the atmosphere - the so-called "greenhouse gases" - and whether or not they have any effect on the planet's climate patterns. The nay-sayers still insist the planet is only coursing a natural rhythm, and we happen to be caught in a certain state. I agree with the notion of a rhythm, but not with any assumption that we have had little influence on our surroundings. Permit me, faithful reader, to outline my synopsis of the situation.

We were once a simpler people: we hunted, gathered, washed our garments by hand, cooked our meals over an open flame, shat on the ground, walked and rode horses. Then came the birth of industrialization: soon, our lives would become as rapid as the machinery we were using. Nowadays, we have eight-hour work days book-ended by a viscous flow of sludge we call "rush-hour traffic", microwave radiation to heat a factory-prepared meal in less than two minutes, high-definition television sets with surround sound blasting into our fragile ears, video games and cellular telephones and washing machines and flush toilets, food delivered by fuel-powered truck for our consumption at the nearest supermarket, and so on, with seemingly little cost to us, save for the heaps of energy required to keep the machinery moving.

From my spiritual teachings, I learned a very poignant lesson - well, I learned several, but I wish to share the one bit of knowledge that most applies here: the universe is who you are; in other words, the happenings in the world around you unfold according to your person. In the twenty-first century, we are a hectic people leading a hasty lifestyle, so it is fitting we require an exorbitant amount of energy to maintain all that is. Furthermore, bearing in mind the fundamental law of thermodynamics, the energy we waste - be it through hot exhaust gas, or radiant heat from engines, or excessive worry or anger - is rejected into the atmosphere, which might very well explain the increased frequency and ferocity to which I alluded earlier (I, myself, have noticed this city in which I live become windier over the last two decades).

There you have it, at least according to my understanding of the world. I could stop here, but alas, there is more I must expel from my chest, for as I sit here, writing this in the cozy confines of my living room, several thousand kilometres from the chaos and carnage, I wonder if this is an exercise in futility, if it's worth my while to care; I could simply let it pass with the rest of my conversation pieces.

What kind of question is that? Of course, I should care. These are lives, like my own, ruined in one fell swoop, and I'm worried about my grocery shopping? There are living creatures in this world who are lucky to receive so much as a handful of nourishment, let alone a meal. So, what do I do to help? I suppose I could physically travel there, but, lacking the necessary skills to do anything useful, is this an option to consider? I suppose I could donate a sum of money to my favourite NGO who assures me it will be well spent, but is this so? I don't know the exact figures, but, given the bureaucratic structure of the more popular outfits and the frequent international travel, a lot of that money donated by us layfolk gets sucked up by overhead, leaving a small fraction to the country that ends up in the pockets of the ruling regime, who decides how it is to be dispersed, ensuring (presumably) its needs are addressed first. In the end, how many cents for every dollar I donate actually helps those who need it?

At the risk of tangentially veering off course, I feel the need to comment on the ruling regime, and the business it conducts with certain governments who profess to love freedom and democracy. As I trust you are already aware, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, elected by the people of Burma (known now as Myanmar, as per the wishes of the ruling junta), was declared an honourary citizen of Canada by our rulers, presumably for her dedication to the freedom of her people, despite her condemnation to house arrest. Upon first glance, this appear a noble act by our government, affirming its commitment to the sanctity of democracy - how fitting that we see, on our national news network, a tribute to her - however, I wouldn't be here if I drew my conclusions upon my first glance. A while back, I read a piece outlining Canada's business dealings with the military junta of "Myanmar", affirming my commitment to the end of this fleecing of my sisters and brothers by the thieves for whom they vote every few years. It appears there is mining to be done, and our Canadian crusaders of capital are seeing fit to be the ones to supply the junta the means to do it, for a handsome sum, of course.

How does this all relate? I could have written a piece on climate, or corruption, or just plain apathy, but alas, I bored you with all of the above. Why? I'll tell you (I really should curb my use of the pronoun "I", for this isn't about me): we mistreat each other and the home in which we live in an effort to reap what we feel is ours (hence the folly of my use of the pronoun "I"); our Earth Mother is trying desperately to get us to listen, though I fear her efforts may be in vain, for we do not seem to care that the people of Burma, along with the people of every other part of the world who suffer needlessly, are paying for our sins? We are bearing witness to the Tragedy of the Commons: selfish gain means collective doom.

The universe is who we are. It's time to start looking within ourselves for the cause of, and solution to, the chaos we see before our eyes.