Thoughts on the Outskirts of an Inferno

As a brown shroud of ash settles on my house, as my neighbors to north and south flee a miles-wide dragon breathing fire on everything it sees, I can't help envying my fellow Americans whose lives are so quiet, so protected, that they have the leisure to be terrified by a small band of Arabs. Fire, flood, heat, drought, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and disease - there are so many killers out there. Mother Nature, God if you will, spreads terror and death far more efficiently than Osama ever dreamed.