Capsules

Last week, a cargo ship "The Ice Prince" sunk in the English Channel. This week, residents are waiting for the oil slick to wash ashore.

The ship sunk in a heavy storm and all 20 crew members were rescued dramatically (in the dark by helicopter). It's eerie to look back through the BBC headlines –

Cargo ship rolls in stormy waters
Tow plan for stricken cargo ship
Stricken ship at risk of sinking
Abandoned ship sinks to sea bed

It's almost nostalgic, isn't it -- to look back at our own naivete before understanding... Now 313 tons of oil are sitting at the bottom of the sea, as if in a giant time release capsule.

I'm intrigued right now with the weight of impending misfortune. I guess it started yesterday with the polar bears -- that it could be that in 50 years polar bears will be extinct and we will look at yesterday as the defining moment.

Waiting. Knowing. Looking clearly at the change that separates the knowing from the not knowing. From the possible to the impending.