Reality Check: China and the Shaking Earth

"Russia, Japan and Taiwan joined China's rescue operation as troops poured into Sichuan province to free as many as 30,000 people trapped in collapsed buildings after the nation's most powerful earthquake in 58 years."

There are events that change us as a people and as a race. Natural disasters are becoming global, along with everything else in the world. The leaders of Myanmar have maybe learned that lesson too late. The Chinese have not.

Natural disasters are a humbling experiences. I live on a fault line with millions of others. We ignore it. We make jokes about. We hope we never have to face its wrath.

The Earth is shaking, quaking, melting and sending killer winds and storms across its surface. Maybe it is telling us something. Maybe the Earth wants our attention.

The death toll from the May 12 quake may reach 50,000 with more than 100,000 injured, Xinhua reported. The government deployed more than 130,000 soldiers and relief workers and 110 helicopters to find people still buried and injured, and rescuers have reached all 58 stricken counties and towns in the mountainous western province.

The relief operation, one the biggest China has mounted, may escalate as officials check reservoirs and hydro-electric stations near the epicenter to prevent secondary disasters as flood season approaches. As many as 391 hydro-dams are in ``dangerous condition,'' the government said."

Cold wars, hot wars, terrorism, imperialism, global warming, animal extinction. These things need to be left behind. We can not afford to carry them into the new century with us. We are one planet and we don't completely understand her yet.

Mother Earth doesn't recognize our man-made borders.