The dog days of summer. When it’s so hot no one wants to do much of anything, not even the dogs. Most of the world above the equator wishes it could melt into blobs of inactivity.
This is especially true for the month of August. It’s as if June and July accumulate the radiant energy of the sun and pass it on to August like a preheated oven to subject the Earth to its annual summer baking.
August creates inactivity in humans and beasts but stirs to action clouds of insects, some of which, like gnats, flies, fleas and mosquitoes add to the misery of humans and their animal brethren.
There are thunderstorms in August that are dangerous but spectacularly beautiful when lightning dances like whirling Devishes in brilliant, blinding choreography of color and sound like a Sufi Zikr*, played out in micro-second bursts of raw energy.
After the storm front passes and in the brief cooling of the air, there lingers the scent and flavor of ozone, slightly metallic and briefly energizing. There is a feeling that the Earth is attempting to clean you and itself with the invisible ions that drift down like sparks from last month’s July 4th fireworks.
One August many years ago, my wife and I were guests of a Greek family in a small mountain village. The village had clung with great tenacity to the flanks of Mount Olympus for centuries. Life was vertical there. It felt like there was only up and down. Moving horizontally was a luxury and a temporary one at best.
August in the village of Keritsa was slow by necessity. The heat of the day demanded obedience. After the noon meal, everyone who could retired to their bedrooms. Shutters were closed against the intense sunlight and the household lay down under a gauzy sheet that was more of a suggestion than an actual blanket.
For the next two to three hours one perspired and drifted in and out of a dream state that only slightly resembled sleep. Eventually, the lady of the house would come around and gather the wispy sheets and beckon you to a terrace under the shade of an ancient plane tree.
Once everyone had roused themselves from their afternoon rest, a large tray of watermelon that had been plucked from one of the many vines that crisscrossed the roofs and terraces of the village houses, was placed in the middle of the table. Everyone was given a fork to spear shimmering red cubes from the communal Mother Lode of watery sweetness that re-energized body and soul.
The heat of August is overlooked for its ability to bring people together. Unlike the reanimation ritual in Keritsa that brings people back to life, so much of the “developed” world does its best to suppress the special qualities August offers. Air conditioned businesses, homes and cars create a barrier between people, the environment and each other. This allows us to carry on in our daily lives as conquerors of August. We try to tell ourselves August is to be vanquished not accommodated.
I don’t know when we first started hearing about “global warming” but what began as quiet concern has grown to full-on anxiety among climatologists. The graphs they produce, the visual evidence of melting glaciers around the world and the shrinking of the polar icecaps attest to a changing world climate.
It is interesting that as proof mounts about the effects of a warming planet, there are those who continue to claim it is all a hoax perpetrated by scientists seeking lucrative grants or is a conspiracy by liberals to destroy the fossil fuel industry. Like so many arguments that arise in science and then drift into the political arena, the message the Earth is sending us gets lost in the competition for money and power. What if the Earth is saying to us, “Accommodate to nature, don’t try to conquer it. The Earth has great abundance but don’t be greedy”.
The Earth isn’t warning us about rising temperatures, it is showing us what it does when it is ignored. It does not care whether we prosper or decline. It will endure with us or without us. It is indifferent to us. The choices we make as a species are related only to our survival. We may wound the Earth but it possesses healing power far beyond anything we have. Humans exist, as do all living species, as guests on this Earth and are limited in their life spans. Earth has the luxury of eons to adjust and evolve. Humans do not.
So perhaps August is here to teach us, if we let it, about living with, not against nature. We can try to make our elected officials recognize and take actions to reduce the harm we cause to the Earth. However, political systems and the economic structures that support them are slow to change because they have so much invested in the status quo. The human species, as a whole though, can adapt much faster. Small changes in behavior begin to accelerate change like compounding interest does with money. The wisdom of the villagers of Keritsa, who recognize when it’s time to take a break, is in all of us if we allow it.
The Earth ultimately doesn’t care what we do. It will show us in floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and famines its unstoppable powers. It is entirely up to us and the choices we make every day whether to submit to its power or attract increasing misery. I would personally prefer doing what the dogs of August do in the heat of the day: submit to Earth’s authority. It’s a small price to pay for a mouthful of sweet watermelon among family and friends.
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*Sufi Zikr is a meditative practice used by Sufi’s to experience the Devine presence of God. Sufi’s are a branch of Islam found throughout the world. Some religious scholars say Sufism is a “bridge” between Islam and Christianity though this is not universally held by either religion.
Thanks Bruce. I wonder if there is also an “August of the heart”😡. It seems to me we are being nudged towards the burning uncomfortable truth of reality we find ourselves essentially forced choose to either settle down and ride the bucking horse of reality or gather with others and argue with the sun.
Your piece strikes me as a cool breeze in the present torrid August.
Blessings Grace and Peace.
Beautiful piece about August Bruce. It is so true that the earth doesn’t care what we do. I am going to share this widely.