Spain and Portugal are experiencing one of the worst forest fire seasons in recent history.  Forest fires have consumed three times as much area in Spain (January 1-August 5) as they did last year.  Fires also rage fiercely in Spain’s Canary Islands.  About 10 percent of the island of La Gomera has burned, including a quarter of a UNESCO World Heritage nature preserve.  Thousands have been evacuated (BBC, August 14, 2012).

If you think the world has gone crazy or off the deep end, you are not alone. In their book, Future Shock, Alvin and Heidi Toffler described the effect of rapid change on the human psyche. Toffler proposed that an accelerated rate of technological and social change leaves people disconnected, stressed, and disoriented. But, is that the whole reason?

To be sure, many of us may not readily embrace new technologies easily, since we prefer the familiar. But, as it is said, “necessity is the mother of invention”—so people do adapt.

In a recent interview, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the German Die Zeit newspaper that it is clear that the eurozone crisis will lead to “powerful political change of the EU,” adding, “And on this point, I am deeply worried that Britain could decide by referendum to leave the whole process” (Fox Business News, August 8, 2012).  Are we seeing the first cracks in Britain’s long-standing relationship with the wider EU community?

When tragedy suddenly strikes a home or family, a city or a nation, the people directly affected experience any number of emotions, including unbridled sadness, hurt, loss, emptiness and grief. When the sharp edge of shock and piercing point of pain are slightly numbed by emotional fatigue, it is not abnormal for anger and resentment to enter people’s hearts. Anger from the devastating loss seeks to focus on or attack something. Whose fault is it? Who is blame for such an atrocity? Counselors see these transitions as part of the normal grieving process.

Last Saturday, two powerful earthquakes struck Iran.  The first was 6.4 magnitude and the second 6.3 (ITV News, August 12, 2012).  They were both followed by many aftershocks.  At least six villages were completely destroyed and dozens more experienced great damage.  More than 50,000 have taken temporary shelter (Reuters, August 14, 2012).