Lessons from the West
I wrote “On Slavery and Humanity” last month and talked about the passage of time in human relations. The American West speaks to the passage of time in earth relations.
In Colorado’s western plateau country, take the first right coming east off I-70 just out of Grand Junction and see the walls come in. The Colorado River carries the I-70 corridor, a canyon magnificent enough. But coming in from the south and feeding the Colorado is Plateau Creek which forms a spectacular side canyon of 600-foot-high Mesaverde Group sandstone. This river has been cutting this trench in the layers of sandstone, shale and coal for 100 million years. Yet on a 24-hour clock of Earth’s history, this process began at 22:58 or 62 minutes before midnight. You and I have found ourselves here, so briefly deposited, for maybe 80 years.
Lucky us! What a sight to behold. Our world and our universe are profound; their age makes them so.
When you are West, you quickly see the scant shred of a moment you possess in this world, in this reality. You, Homo sapien, have been most fortuitously born into and become conscious of a physical presence, intellect and free will while existing on a now relatively benign and comfortable minor planet whirling in space. This life business is hard to beat! Earth’s creation and its evolution of living things: plant, animal, dinosaur, hominid, is the lesson from the Rocks of the West.
When we dropped from trees at the edge of the African savannah three million years ago, we needed to see if we could hunt it. We were learning to stand upright and could manage to see above the tall grasses, but we were taking a big chance. Few of us made it. Not only were we third in line behind the big cats and hyena packs for food, but we were likely to be taken ourselves. If we got to a kill and there was anything left, it was only in the bones. We’ve spent most of our history in this state.
Today we are far from this, though our hunting and gathering ended seconds ago. As our brains have grown, our ever increasing speed exploiting the riches of planet Earth is something we have proved very good at, and it has benefited us. Now we live an existence of wonder. Stimulation and comfort for our species is everywhere.
From becoming bipedal, the fastest man could travel was on foot. From long before the Roman Legions marched through Gaul, indeed from climbing down from the trees, man has walked. Then, a nanosecond ago, between the years 1800-1850, the world for us humans changed. Overnight we now traveled at 10 knots over water and 25 miles-per-hour over land. The “Age of Steam” had arrived.
The “Age of Steam” has come and gone. Today we Homo sapiens now manage food procurement and provision, enjoy instant communication around the world and beyond, travel remarkably fast flying through the air, and have all knowledge gained by our forebears over centuries on all subjects in our pocket.
What could be more fabulous? How better human life on planet Earth? Cherish it while you can and do good, for the Rocks of the West host us just briefly and we’re gone.
“What is the greatest wonder in the world?
That, every single day, people die,
Yet, the living think they are immortal.”
Mahabharata