Pakistan

It's far too easy to get tunnel vision and caught up in the daily games of politics. I've neglected this vast human tragedy, which was initially reported in my newspaper as a small blurb on A-16, only to expand as its deadly effect came into focus. Living in an area where an earthquake could hit at any time (I've been in two, none of them serious but all of them scary for at least a moment), these stories are particularly salient.

The regularity of these natural disasters over the last several months can only be described as disturbing. Certainly some study needs to be done into why the frequency has risen so. We're about to run out of letters on this hurricane season and it's not near over (in which case, they go to Greek; Hurricane Alpha, anyone?). There's a Hurricane Vince headed for Europe. It'll likely be a tropical storm when it gets there, but think about that. A tropical storm in Europe.

I'll leave it to all of you to explain this rash of deadly environmental activity. It could be as simple as karma; when we're not nice to the environment, it's not nice to us.