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Matt Winslow's avatar

Speaking as someone who has lived most his life in the Seattle area, the looming presence of Mt Rainier is a constant reminder of impermanence. Not a month goes by when there's not a slight shaking somewhere in the Salish Sea to remind us that we sit on major fault lines. Those of us old enough to recall Mt St Helens know that the Cascades are a volcanic range. The beauty of the mountains we have around us (and I consider the PNW one of the most beautiful places to live in the U.S.) comes only because they are impermanent and always changing, as various tectonic plates slam into each other beneath our feet and push up our volcanic peaks. When 'the mountain is out' (a common phrase that means it's not being hidden by grey clouds), we are reminded of the impermanence of even something as majestic as Rainier.

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Jan Yanello's avatar

I cannot help but think that we humans are doing our level best to behead the world. It feels deeply comforting to me to know that eventually we will collectively answer to the strength and cycles of the earth, however much we fancy it to be the other way around.

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