I once sat upon an ancient rock contemplating my life—my raison d’être—in this vast world of ours. When you find yourself—an itty-bitty pinprick, a teeny-tiny dot, hardly a smudge in the landscape—gazing upon the millions-of-years-old arctic ice cap, you can’t help but wonder.

Me in Awe at the Russell Glacier, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland in 2009

This massive wall of ice—

Russell Glacier, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland in 2009

—thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of years worth of billions, trillions, ga-who-can-count-that-high-zillions of teensy-weensy, minuscule, infinitesimal snowflakes compacted so tightly it created a sheet of ice between 2 and 3 kilometers thick that covers about 1.71 million square kilometers of land (this does not include sea ice)—

This wall of ice could very well make you feel smaller than the micro-nucleus of a singular protozoon feasting on fungi in a petri dish.

But that feeling is fleeting. It only lasts until you witness the boom, crash, splash—

Russell Glacier, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland in 2009

and suddenly realize that very same massive, ancient, frozen wall of ice—might actually be as fragile as you are.

When you see an iceberg cry

Ilulissat, Greenland, 2009

you may have an inkling that you, and all the other teeny, tiny organisms just like you, might be somewhat responsible for its early demise. Is it possible that the increased melting of the Big Ice, Sermersuaq, as the native Kalaallit Eskimo call it, just might be the result of our loss of respect for nature, our inclination to waste and destroy Mother Earth’s precious, finite natural resources, our mass consumerism of unsustainable products?

Then, when you maneuver between these massive walls – these mountains of frozen history,

Ilulissat, Greenland, 2009

you can’t help but think about where they have been, what they have seen, whose faces they’ve touched in the form of rain, sleet, and snow—the Budda’s? Aristotle’s, Galileo’s? Mother Teresa’s? your great-great-grandmother’s? Every drop of water on this planet has been here since Earth hurled into existence. Every drop, in some form or other, will be here until she breaks down and is absorbed back into the universe. I only hope that when it’s my turn to ride off into the sunset, I will do so knowing that I walked upon her in a good way; that I lived my life respecting her and my fellow human beings – honoring all life – however huge

Ilulissat, Greenland, 2009

or small.

Other than visiting Greenland for an up close experience of climate change, I strongly suggest watching the movie CHASING ICE.  The film’s trailer is even enough to touch one’s heart.

Thank you again to Where’s My Backpack, the inspiration for today’s post. What kind of wall’s have you come up against lately? Please share!