Yesterday after an early morning snow of a few inches we had some rain which then turned to into a snow storm towards the late afternoon. Whether due to lack of money, a social experiment or perhaps to the official "explanation" of not being able to salt the roads due to the "rain", the roads soon became snow covered even though the temperature was above freezing. A comment by one official referring to hoping people use "good sense" out there on the roads, raises the question of "were the events of last night a "social experiment?"" and who exactly was observing the chaotic events that transpired.
As the roads became snow covered we had a hour long drive to make, and proceeded at about 35-40 miles per hour along quiet roads with the four wheel drive engaged, as it became more snowy and visibility dropped we slowed to 30 miles per hour then to 25 miles per hour. About 12 minutes from our destination we suddenly encountered a huge traffic jam on a double lane road, although it appeared that traffic was moving at a crawl, this was an illusion as what was actually occurring was that the whole road was blocked by cars spun out in the snow blocking the whole hill. The slow movement of traffic was caused by people turning through the grass medium and heading the opposite direction. It was a strange scene of non-cooperation as most people just spun tires and even abandoned cars right on the road. Two women tried to get out of the snow drift that one had tried to drive through to turn through the median by shoveling snow with hubcaps. People were walking to the nearest pizza shop in T-shirts, totally inadequately dressed for the weather. We did see one driver jump out of his car to give a push to another car in front of him, however this was the exception.
Realizing that nothing was moving, and knowing we would be able to drive through the median, we headed back the other direction and took winding back roads to our destination after several other detours to avoid roads filled with spun out cars and no cooperative effort. Our 1 hour drive took close to 4 hours, not due to the conditions of the road but due to the chaos that was being created by traffic. It turned out that some people had spent 9 hours stuck on the road as one of the primary highways into and out of the city was a parking lot and of course, being a highway, had very limited options for exits. Many people had abandoned their cars on the highway, walking downtown to the hotels, filling them totally within hours. The strange thing was that during our drive back we saw only a handful of plows...
One would think that this was some super snowstorm, but it was relatively minor compared to ones that we had last year of two storms of 20 inches within a few days of each other. This one was 6-9 inches in warm conditions and was quickly cleared up once plows did come out and address the situation. Whether it was a conscious social experiment or not, it was disturbing to see the chaos that ensued and the lack of cooperation among those stranded. All it would have taken was a cooperation between drivers to go from one car to another giving a helping push and the cars would have been able to get out of the drifts and up the hills, but this was absolutely not occurring in 90% of the cases. We even found cars still abandoned today blocking whole lanes of back roads where a simple snow shovel would get them moving immediately. The lack of common sense was stunning and it drove home the point that people are not only physically unprepared for anything but the "norm" but also totally mentally unprepared for anything but the "norm".
As Tainos, as Paleros, we understand clearly that the Misterios and the Ancestors require that we be mentally strong and clear to work in a good way with them. We cannot ask for all kinds of progression and accomplishments from them, but then approach our lives and decisions with mental weakness. We cannot ask that they protect us, but then fail to utilize common sense in dealing with situations that can be potentially dangerous, if not for us then for those around us who are more vulnerable.
There is an energy of utter recklessness that is being expressed more and more in the society in general which is perhaps most visible through the way that people drive and behave on the road, which is a potentially deadly activity. Care and concern is rare, and there is an aggressiveness and individualism that creates the illusion of power in a situation where the individual is in actuality powerless. A snowstorm is a prime example of a moment when individual illusion of power collides with Mother Earth's Powers and the individual realizes for a brief moment that "you can't wrestle with Mother Earth". However this moment passes with the arrival of tow trucks, snow plows and salt (and unacknowledged with the reprieve offered by Mother Earth's snowstorm moving on) and the individual goes right back to a reckless and insensitive way of living upon Mother Earth.
Whatever position we may take regarding the climate (global warming/ global cooling) or regarding society, if we do not realize that the energy of the Earth and her People is reaching a point of intense energy that can only transmute into something different, then we are intentionally blind and deft. Denial is deadly, and denial comes in many garments, however there is always a component of denial that is a conscious decision to willfully put one's head in the sand. How that transmutation occurs and how we adapt to that transmutation is the true question, because clearly the "norm" is not an adequate response to the situation that All Life and our Mother Earth is vibrating within at this time.
Ase! Ase O!
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