CURRENTS

Originally uploaded by parasol.

"There's lots of motion in the ocean," an old timer told me a long, long time ago. Yes, indeed, there is.

There's also lots of motion in the air around us. The air is an ocean, less dense for sure than water, but an ocean filled with currents nonetheless.

We enjoy all that our atmospheric ocean brings, whether rain, snow, hail or sunshine. We need them all, in the right balance, to make our planet liveable.

Clouds roll by showing the speed and whirl of these currents. Birds soar in the currents, some so large they can glide for miles without so much as flapping a single wing. Uplifting, such soaring is, not only to the bird but to the person blessed with observing the miracle of such flight.

Flyers of kites work the winds as if they were a three-dimensional dance hall in which colorful contraptions shall trip the light fantastic. Little children open their jackets and feel as if they might fly away.

I watch the currents and sense just how delicate this ecosystem is. To some the currents bring precious rain. To others floods: to still others nothing but further crushed dreams of crops never to grow.

Currents -- rhythms -- balance. The clouds are like Zen Riders on the ultimate journey. They ride the currents. They twist and turn. They go on forever.