I’ve been holding my breath, just wishing that the oil would just lie there quietly and stay put. It was a nice wish, but it looks like the ooze is on the move, and it is coming our way—right around Florida and up the east coast. Now that the ooze is on the move, who knows where it will go!

It’s truly amazing that we can dig an oil well that is a mile under water, but don’t have a successful contingency plan to deal with horrific outcomes when something goes wrong. Clearly everyone is scrambling to come up with alternatives and we are not without ideas, but most of them have never been tried before. We are truly winging it!!

You have to ask how we let ourselves get into this position. The answer is probably fairly simple. We need oil, and we need it now. The need to get oil is so strong that it outweighs risk. It is such an all-encompassing need that it has overridden serious consideration of potential danger—so look at where we are now!! The traveling ooze has the potential to damage not only the ecosystem, but to endanger the economy in many ways.

The real lesson in this disaster is one of keeping priorities in balance and not responding in a foolish and irresponsible manner to the immediate and urgent need. We can easily be blindsided by what brings in great revenue and fills the gas tank. We forget that the destruction of fragile ecosystems may have a far greater impact on the quality of the life of our grandchildren.

Sometimes events remind us of the power and fragility of our connection to each other in the natural world. The last few days have provided extraordinary lessons about how a major failure or disaster can have unbelievably far reaching consequences. Just consider the news!!

The rapidly spreading oil spill in the gulf alarms us all as it moves towards the coastal estuaries that are spawning grounds for a huge number of species. If these are destroyed, the recovery could take years and may deeply affect the food chain. We are connected both by our need for oil and food. A simple break in a major water main has disrupted the water quality for most of the Boston area. Although the damage is relatively easy to repair the entire city is boiling their drinking water. We are reminded that we are connected by the need for clean water. In New York an attempt to detonate a car bomb brought Times Square to a standstill and the area was evacuated until the danger passed. We are connected by our need to protect ourselves from danger. Tornadoes and floods have battered the south and heartland, reminding us that nature is still in charge. We are connected because we live in a world where nature can be capricious.

There are many ways we can look at these events, but one important observation that we can make is that we are deeply linked together as we live in the human community. The connections are both powerful and fragile. We see this during moments when they are disrupted and damaged. Such events force us to consider and evaluate our way of life. So, let’s appreciate both the importance and fragility of our interconnection with each other and the natural world. Perhaps we can learn to make the balance more effective.