Smoke and ash

There's been a lot of talk about the tremendous amount of "stuff" an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland has been spewing out in past weeks. For over a week, international airports all over Europe were closed, flights grounded, and travel came to a halt. Airlines and airports are still reeling to catch up and recover from the backlog of cancellations. Everywhere you turned, everyone was saying the same thing. It was a disaster for airlines and travellers and it was costing untold millions. What would Europe do? How would we survive this mass inconvenience at the mercy of a geological formation/event?
With the talk of money lost came talk of insurance. Airlines and travelers all have it, but, in this case, it was no good. Insurance doesn't cover "acts of God." In all the pandemonium and debate, cost and inconvenience, I heard no one mention anything about the climactic show of smoke and ash as an act of God (outside of an insurance definition). Interesting how things change in a thousand years or so. In those days, such a plume of haze and darkness and dirt would surely have been seen as a sign from God. People would have stopped dead in their tracks in awe and wonder attempting to discover what it all means. To what do we owe this gift of intrusion into our affairs? Instead, night after night, we were treated to complaint after complaint - inconvenience after inconvenience. I don't think it was some prophetic sign of warning from God. I'm not sure what it was - other than a volcanic eruption. Yet, at least for me, it was worth noting how generations approach life so differently. And, presumably, it was a nice reminder that there are some things in life bigger and more important than us.
What's so bad about standing still for a little while? Nothing. We've just always been taught that we can't. So perhaps we needed smoke and ash to give us permission.