Watching it on a television can even make it appear beautiful. Perhaps it could indeed be all of that, but not when it was in your own backyard. Like most of nature's creative tools, it completely disregards human opinions and certainly ignores whatever dreams or wishes people have. It is a force that cannot be redirected or delayed, negotiated with or compelled. Planetary forces rarely cut humans a break but at least Hawaiian lava gave them enough time to get out of the way. This event was no exception. There were no surprises here. A continuous thirty year eruption at Kilauea had convinced the world that time had a whole other meaning here than it did to humans in general. Past lava flows demonstrated quite convincingly that what had been pristine pools and beaches could within weeks be covered in over twenty feet of molten rock. Earthquakes alerted everyone to a process that had started here on the Big Island of Hawaii some four hundred thousand years ago. Yes, Hawaii could destroy and create but it never snuck up on you, it never surprised the observant.
