A spectacular and beautiful place ...
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June 13, 2004 is divided into four folders:
Valley of Fire
Living Desert
Sandstone Wonderland
Lake Mead
Nature has done something incredible at the Valley of Fire. The uplift of the Colorado Plateau has twisted and turned these rocks in weird and wonderful ways creating an otherworldly environment. Nature has left its mark on the land, too, with petrified logs and desert vegetation. In addition, humans have made a mark on the land ... the Native Americans inhabited the Valley of Fire for thousands of years and they left numerous petroglyphs portraying humans, plants, animals and mysterious symbols whose meaning was lost to time.
Isn't this world an incredible, beautiful place?
***
I spent some time today reading poetry and old books and a chapter in a conservative book in which the conservative was denying global warming and acting as a carbon dioxide, DDT and pollution advocate.
All these words seem to mean something but in the long run they mean nothing. They are as meaningless as the petroglyphs the Native Americans carved on the cliffs of the Valley of Fire.
Time erases everything. Those Native Americans probably didn't imagine that their creative works would last for a thousand years or longer, but they have. Our modern works aren't quite so enduring. The books might last for decades or centuries and these words on the Internet might endure for weeks, months or years before they evaporate away into the void of nothingness.
Does it make any difference? If my works endure for a day or week or a year that is enough. Here today, gone tomorrow.
What is important is that the living world endure. The information contained in DNA endures for millions and even billions of years. It is a more enduring information carrying medium than even the rocks. DNA has outlasted mountains and oceans.
DNA will outlast the Homo sapiens and everything humankind has built and all the memories of humankind's accomplishments. Nature humbles humankind's pride.
David Mathews
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