The Power of Nature

I was really impressed by the landscape painter JMW Turner. What interested me was the fact that his pieces, which are extremely colorful, have a modern feel, they aren't idealized versions of the countryside (which I find kind of boring) but the show the feeling, the emotions of nature. When I look at his piece “The Deluge” there is a sense of movement and I actually get the feeling that I am in the middle of a storm. Also what impresses me timeless theme of nature. The reminder that nature wipes everything clean, nature is the ultimate decider. In his piece “Snowstorm/Hannibal Crossing the Alps” Turner shows Hannibal as a speck in the background, almost invisible. This only shows that human beings are nothing when compared to the power of nature, and nothing can conquer the power of nature.

What I find interesting is that idea of an "all powerful nature" always seems to be forgotten by people. In today’s society it is expected that human inventions can sustain the wraths of nature. Even after natural disasters, there always seems to be something the critics or politicians argue could have been done better....could have prevented so much disaster, when in reality what people fail to remember is the fact that nature truly is all powerful. Not only in the sense that it can destroy all, but it is also unexpected.

Because I live in San Francisco, and have lived in Northern California for most of my life, I understand the fear of earthquakes. The fact that everything can come crashing down at any second is something we, as humans can’t control. Yes we can build earthquake safe buildings but we can’t stop an earthquake from happening, just as we can’t stop fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, or tsunamis. But this does not stop us from trying.

On a side note, the power of nature is a theme that has recently shown up in movies. In the unfortunately bad film “The Happening” nature, or plants strike back at the people. Although I admit it was a bad movie the idea says something about how people ignore the power of nature and it brings up the question could nature strike back and terrorize the people, like the people terrorize nature?