on impermanence

the globe's riveting big picture blog
posted a series of photos of flooded venice yesterday
which make me want to get on a plane and go there
right now
for a variety of reasons

[the irony is not lost on me that cheap leisure air travel is said to contribute to such events]

there's a series of marks on the sidewalk in boston
that call out the former shoreline
we all laugh when a nor'easter drops some rich guy's house
into the sea
heck i lived in new orleans
once upon a time

the signs are all there
but at the same time
human lifetimes are so short compared with those of
our stable nation
and our vast constructions
to say nothing of the earth's own timetable
it's easy to forget that change does happen in tangible ways
whether or not you think we're doing it

for every 1500 year old hagia sophia
there's the fact that my elementary school was probably
flooded and abandoned

throw in the fact that i do happen to believe
that some of this is our fault
and that we may be guaranteeing
that some of this change
will happen in our lifetimes and not on some
geologic timescale
and pictures like those
become even more poignant

because for all the i've-seen-worse
insouciance on display by those italians
i have to wonder what would happen if they never do
see their city the same way again
and how i would feel
if i were in their shoes

or hip waders as the case may be