WINDS OF CHANGE
Nothing seems to bring - no one thing, that is, so much change as does the wind.
It is the tortured soul of the storm, yet it can also be the gentle swish of a breeze soothing our sweat-soaked, sun-stroked bodies.
The wind is winsome and alluring when it chooses to be, and
lethargic and indolent if that be its mood. It can swirl up a miniature whirlwind of leaves, dust and candy wrappers in your yard as a harmless prank or exercise, or it can parent a larger version called a tornado which can crush your
home to total ruin. Hurricanes can undo man’s best building efforts in moments.
The wind can be both saint-like and satanic. It can cleanse the air of impurities so that man can breathe healthy, fresh air from afar, or it can bring heavy sheets of smog and pollution to confuse and choke an
entire area. It can power the giant dust or sand storms and chance the face of man’s Earth from beaches to dunes or plowed land and pastures to dust bowls!
When you see a wall of tumbleweed coming toward you in desert areas it is the wind which powers its terrifying movement. Seek shelter, but if cover is not available, lie down, protect your face and eyes, and the
wind -powered wall of withered weed will pass over you and hit the first upright building or cliff it can find. There, again, the wind will work it’s magic and fashion any excess into pagoda-like and other fantastic shapes, just as it does as
it fingers snow swirls on rooftops in snowy climes. That’s a glimpse of the wind’s artistic side just as are the remarkable patterns it etches out on the surface of sand dunes and expanses and , over many years, on the face of rocky crags.
The wind, you see, is also patient and tenacious. It can be in no hurry, if it wishes to assume that guise.
The wind can be gracious as well as deadly. It can drift afar and cause draught and desolation throughout huge areas of arable land bringing death to both man and beast. It can whip up sudden,
unpredictable storms in shallow lakes and coastal waters and be the bane of boatsmen, yet it can push even large ships across the world’s widest oceans, if asked to do so, by sturdy sails properly mounted and controlled wisely.
It’s here! It’s gone! It’s everywhere - and nowhere all at once!
Wind - the eternal power and sprit of Nature. The amazing wind!
A.L. M. August 30, 2002 [c-441wds]
