The Islamabad-centered Earthquake and Guatemalan Mudslides

I don't think I need to tell anyone how terrible and tragic these 2 separate events are. The death toll for Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan is probably going to top 35,000, and the dead in Guatemala have reached over 650, with another 600 or so missing.

Like so many recent natural disasters, the cost in terms of lost lives and property cannot be counted. Property can be reacquired or rebuilt. Lives, unfortunately, are never the same and, since I have doubts about an afterlife and resurrection, no one comes back from the dead.

Though I'm not a religious person in the strictest sense of the word, I admit that I have wondered whether humankind is not reaping some just reward for all the indignities that have been heaped upon this earth. Despite the platitudes that fall from the naysayers and doubters of global warming, I think it is clear that something is seriously wrong with our planet... and I won't even bother trying to go into what I think is wrong with its inhabitants, yours truly included.

Please take the time to tell your loved ones, near and far, that you love them. In the chaos that is today's world, one simply cannot predict when you might get the chance again.