what's your emergency?

 

Don't panic. This is how the day sometimes wears itself out where I live. It's at once shocking--the colors of fire, the blush of its glow--and obvious. Of course it can appear dramatic, even violent. We are hurtling through space on a rock and our concept of time is controlled by a nuclear furnace 93 million miles away. But what the photo does not show is the coolness that still comes at dusk, every now and then a frog's croak, a mosquito's buzz, a siren. 

What is the emergency? You didn't learn how to soothe yourself when you were a child and now it feels too late? Your blood sugar is dangerously high after sushi? You know you weren't ready for success when it found you? A coyote died in the night? Bird flu is in the milk?

No, the emergency is none of those things. Those are the sirens. The sun is setting and you are here. Be here, amid the fading light and let your heart skip a beat.