Acts of God

Reporting live from the hotel lounge in Bordeaux, France. I've been "stuck" in Bordeaux, and when I say stuck, I mean eating gourmet food, lounging at the beach and enjoying a luxury hotel all expenses paid, 3 more days than I should have been. An "act of God" has taken place... the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, has decided that after 250 years of dormancy, or sleep, he's going to wake up and cause destruction.

I'm wondering why "acts of God" are usually bad things... natural disasters that disrupt human affairs, while amazing things are deemed "miracles" or by cynics "coincidences." An "act of God" is going to disrupt our lives. An act of God is going to cause havoc, and act of God is going to be a god-like act... something you don't see everyday, like a volcano erupting ash all over Europe, disturbing modes of transport for millions of people and 3 Heads of State.

Mount Eyjafjallajökull is like one of the Greek Titans, locked in the underworld for ages, finally unleashed on the masses to cause destruction over land and see and apparently, air. He's been bought out by the tourism industry trying to make some extra bucks before the summer quarter.

I'll be traveling by coach, ferry, and train tomorrow... and am not necessarily looking forward to a 16 hour journey to replace by 2 hour one which would have been completed by air.

I think rather than having the "act of God" clause with insurance companies, they should have a "natural disaster" or "severe circumstances" clause, rather than bringing in negative connotations of God into it at all. Maybe if Eyjafjallajökull hadn't have erupted the combined temperature of the underground currents of Iceland would have warmed up and it would have completely melted? Maybe Eyjafjallajökull just wants to let the world that air pollution is too big a deal and we shouldn't be flying so much. In fact, we should really slow down and take it easy for a few days where ever we are and let the travel agents of the world sort out how to get home.

We'll only know if the angry Titan calms down long enough to explain. In the meantime, stay where you are if you're home, and if you aren't, be prepared for a long, hard journey, because of an "act of God" or an act of nature, or an act of Eyjafjallajökull the pissy Icelandic volcano.