Parasites

"We are all parisites[sic]..." read part of a post to Facebook in the aftermath of Japan's March 11, 2011's devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami. My friend went on to say, "God help us all." I was quite struck by the phrase. I attempted to discern what exactly my friend believed in based on this post (probably unwise to base an entire theological viewpoint on one post, but I'm just speculating here). Should God actually exist, wouldn't it be precisely Him who caused such devastation? The all-knowing, all-powerful being spurred such disaster, so why on earth would He be called on for assistance? And furthermore, to the former part of the post, humans are "parisites"? But we are made in God's image. If we are draining this world of all its resources then God must be equally complicit in draining the vast cosmos of its own.

What I find so disturbing is the bleak world view highlighted by such a statement. If God actually existed and caused such needless destruction, I would hope it would be to illustrate the point that we, humans, are all alike, coexist here together in this world and that when harm befalls a group of our people, we don't look to God for miracles, but create our own by helping one another, by helping the most needy of our people. Alan Moore's Watchmen culminated in this idea. Wars in all corners of the world, impending doom knocking on the door; it would take a disaster of worldly significance for humans to set aside their differences and come together.

But I don't believe that God exists and therefore do not attribute any particular meaning to the earthquake and the tsunami outside of the natural occurrences of the earth, the ever-changing planet that we inhabit. We are not malicious parasites attaching ourselves to the innards of the planet, but are the white blood cells flowing through the bloodstream to heal, to heighten our immunity to the very dangers that cut our skin and infect our wounds, i.e. the earthquakes and tsunamis. We are the only cure for what ails a planet in peril.