Washington, DC and several other locales got a wakeup call yesterday in the form of an earthquake. There has been a lot of chaos in Washington lately over some major, and some very minor, things. I was out-of-town during the quake. CCL in another major city. The cats, Roxie and Jean Claude, at my house this week, had to fend for themselves. Still, when I arrived home, they seemed calm. For them the chaos and excitement was but a moment.
The Wikipedia description starts as follows “An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. Earthquakes are measured using observations from seismometers. The moment magnitude is the most common scale on which earthquakes larger than approximately 5 are reported for the entire globe.”
So the moment magnitude of an earthquake impacts structures and people’s lives within seconds. There are other things that cause such phenomena: a smile, that quick wink between friends, a touch from a loved one – all things done in a moment that leave a lasting and powerful impression. Also there’s love, the moment we feel it for a romantic partner, that first blissful peaceful moment in the morning – or the morning after.