Allowance

In the aftermath of the Independence Day flooding in south-central Texas, I encountered a question online that I wasn't expecting, although perhaps I should have, given its age and ubiquity: "Why would God allow this to happen?" It was asked in the context of Camp Mystic, the Christian summer camp for girls, but could just as easily apply to the whole event.

I suppose that people will trot out the usual answers, such as the sinfulness of mankind and the need to have bad things happen in order to appreciate the good, but a different answer (or perhaps retort) occurred to me while considering the question: "What part of 'Flash Flood Alley' is difficult to understand?"

And I realized that some variation on this is likely a good response to the question in a lot of instances. A lot of places that are some combination of desirable, useful and/or inexpensive have some hazard associated with them. I mean, were it not for the fact that I live in an area cluttered with trees and other obstructions, I'd have line-of-sight to an active volcano, one that's considered one of the world's most dangerous. Were it to erupt, things in this area would go downhill in a remarkable hurry. And "What part of 'active volcano' is difficult to understand?" would be a very valid question.

While in a sense, the question "Why would God allow this to happen?" is about the seeming inactivity of the Abrahamic god in the face of tragedy (I wonder of Hinduism or Shinto ask a version of the question.), it strikes me that it's also about the idea that humans, especially worshipers, are important enough that the laws of nature (and/or human behavior) should be altered in their favor, regardless of any other considerations, including intentional or inadvertent risk-taking. The Guadalupe River watershed isn't consistently dangerous, otherwise no-one would live there (I would think, anyway), but like any number of other places (say Tornado Alley), it's not  "safe" in the sense that one can be reasonably assured that Mother Nature won't come knocking in a blind rage. And, to some degree or another, therefore, living in these places comes with the assumption of a certain amount of risk. And, comparatively rarely, that risk goes south in a big way, at least for some segment of the population. And sometimes with human help; our built environment, especially here in the United States, can be just as much a hazard as whatever natural process is in play when a disaster occurs.

There are good reasons to live and/or work in places where it's not clear that the Earth really wants anyone to be. But it's worthwhile to understand when that's what's happening. Because the reasons for not putting the resources into being well-adapted to the specific locale are often less good. Remember that I included "inexpensive" as a potential characteristic of hazardous locations. And asking why people don't look after their own well-being is likely a more fruitful line of inquiry than wondering why the Universe doesn't structure things so they don't have to.