Yesterday, Richard Taylor commented on the Japanese disaster, saying I am in shock and denial at the human toll, in awe of nature’s power and protecting myself in a cloak of indignation at our arrogance in thinking that we can control and plan our way around forces so much bigger than we are. Amen to that, Richard.

I don’t think I know anybody who is arrogant enough to think they can control their own cat and yet – collectively – we arrogantly think that we can control nature. And we consider it a virtue. Why don’t we learn? Or – more accurately – why do we consider it a virtue not to learn? Why do we consider it a virtue to rebuild New Orleans in situ? It is a game we can not win.

If somebody says Let’s build in harmony with nature, let’s not build on the flood plain. they are looked upon as anti-progress.  In his New Yorker article The Control of Nature, talking about the Army Corps of Engineers’ fight to stop the natural flow of the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya River, John McPhee quotes Norris Rabalais: This nation has a large and powerful adversary. Our opponent could cause the the United States to lose nearly all her seaborne commerce, to lose her standing as first among trading nations . . . . We are fighting Mother Nature . . . . It’s a battle we have to fight day by day, year by year, the health of our economy depends on the victory.

In my humble opinion, that is complete bullshit; the health of our economy would be better off if we built in harmony with the Earth. Rabalais job might depend on our fighting Mother Nature, but that is a different question.

Japan would be better off if the nuclear power plant had been built above the Tsunami high water line. If it had not been built in the flood plain behind walls built to hold out the sea. And, as Richard points out, now Japan is two feet lower making the control of the sea all that much harder.

The Sendai quake and tsunami and now the nuclear incident – as Prime Minister Naoto Kan so delicately put it – are overwhelming. Some of the aftershocks have been bigger than Loma Prieta. What can be done with the remains of a wall of water that washed inland as far as six miles and was over 30 feet high. I can understand why people just stand around, doing nothing, or are reduced to measuring a damaged road.

The pictures are heartbreaking and very scary. More so – for me atleast – because the scenes are so first world; because Japan – more than any other country, including the United States – expected an earthquake and tried to be ready; because, while we all expect that there will be an earthquake sometime, nobody can really be ready.

As quoted from Al Jazeera:

Democracy does not land from Mars. Without exception, democracy is constructed locally. Recent and past lessons from the wider Middle East affirm that democracy does not easily travel from the West to the rest.

It seems to me that our democracy from Mars is not working in Iraq. I read where the government has closed down the opposition headquarters, this is not a government that tolerates dissent and free speech. I am dubious about democracy flourishing in Egypt – there really doesn't seem to be anything in the wings now that Mubarak is gone. I hope it works: it would be thrilling. But Libya; ah! Libya.

If the revolutionaries in Libya win – and they might not – and especially, if they win after a rough fight; I think that they have a shot at really getting democracy.

Democracy is constructed locally, but so is revolution. Of the two, democracy – real democracy, with a free press and freedom of dissent is harder. I am not saying it is easy to have a revolution , it seems almost impossibly hard and dangerous;

but democracy is almost impossible. Among other things, democracy requires leadership. Imagine South Africa without Mandela.

As the civil war in Libya goes on, leadership will have to emerge for the revolutionaries to win. After they win – and they might not, although the chances are better now that France has recognized the new government as legitimate – they will have home grown leaders. If those leaders are more like George Washington than Nouri al-Maliki, there is a chance there will be democracy in the Arab world. 

Last Saturday, Michele and I volunteered a couple of hours at the San Francisco Orchid Show. Or, more accurately, I volunteered us both to help man -person? people? – the Succulent and Cactus Society booth at the 59th Annual Pacific Orchid Exposition – Show and Sale at the Fort Mason Center in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. 

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a federally run urban park made out of an old Army base. This is not the sort of thing that a private party would ever do. In a gross over generalization, I would say that the private sector is great at innovation, at solving problems, at seeing opportunities, but the private sector really sucks at providing for the public good. If this land had been sold to the highest bidder, it would not be a green area at the edge of San Francisco, but the rows of houses would just continue to the water. 

So, because of the Federal Government turned the land into an urban National Park, I am able to go to a plant show in a huge building that was originally built to load Soldiers and Marines onto ships to be sent to war against the Japanese. There are three buildings and each is a huge open space with giant garage doors lining each side wall and, now, they are a public resource. It makes me proud to be an American and very happy that I live near by. As an aside, what an unhappy and scary experience that must have been: taking a train from a training facility to a giant warehouse; waiting and waiting until it is time to get on a ship – say the West Point AP23 with 7,978 other "passengers" – expecting that, when you get off the ship, it would be to land on some previously unknown Pacific island killing ground. End aside.

Now the open space is filled with orchids and people admiring the orchids, and music and enjoyment. In a slightly ironic twist – a large portion of the admirers are Asian, or gay, or Asian and gay. Maybe that is why the Republicans are so anti-government; Orchid People just aren't their demographic.

All pictures taken by Michele with her iPhone (after I forgot my camera.)