Sinkholes and Corvettes: What The World Is Telling Us

Feb. 15, 2014— -- Eight classic Corvettes fall into a sink hole this week in a museum in Bowling Green, Ky. Wow. Many times events happen in the news that tell a broader and deeper story.

I feel bad for the museum which lost these fancy cars and the owners who donated, but it does to me it does communicate something that maybe the universe has been trying to tell us. The earth opened up and swallowed what many see as a symbol of conspicuous consumption.

I don't have anything against the love of automobiles or trucks. My father worked for Chrysler and Dodge for over 30 years in Detroit, and we grew up always being fans of the newest styles that rolled off the assembly line. To this day, I will only drive an American made car, and love my Jeep that always feels like a throw back to a by gone era.

But don't we think the universe has been sending us signals about maybe a different way in life. To me it is such a pointed thing that without much warning a hole opened in our planet, and devoured these Corvettes and the museum couldn't do anything to stop it. Pausing a moment, haven't we been getting a lot of these signals lately.

Violent storms have happened over the last few years seemingly in increasing ways maybe asking us to have more respect for our planet. The death tolls and damage have been tragic, and most tragic I think is that we don't seem to be paying attention to nudges we get possibly saying we need to start conducting ourselves in a different manner.

I think these same signals have been sent about our financial and political institutions as well. More and more we see that no matter how much wealth is gathered on Wall Street, the majority of the country is falling further behind. The stock market and other economic data doesn't really tell the story any more about what is going on in our neighborhoods. Scandals hit, and we see the problems momentarily, a huge media discussion happens, and then we don't change our behavior as regards how we operate financially.

And in politics we have seen election after election in the last decade where no party can seem to hold power for longer than two or four years. Democrats win one election, and then are voted out the next. Republicans seem on the cusp of a come back and then they are voted out as quickly as they were voted in. And then nothing seems to change in Washington DC as dysfunction drives the process.

If we really stood back in politics, and other areas of our life, we would see that neither party has come up with a way forward. Promises are made, gifts are received, hope rises, and that is smashed after the politicians take office and keep doing things the way it has always been done. Campaigns come up with new strategies to win elections, and they think this is what the country is telling them. When in fact the American public keeps demanding authentic leadership that is not based on a partisan agenda.

And I think we are hearing much from the beyond about our celebrity culture that seems to reward voyeurism and not real values. Each day a celebrity who we thought was a hero is knocked down because their values are out of whack with the universe. And we once again think the diagnosis is that they were stupid because they got caught as opposed to a broader virus that has infected our culture.

If we just listen to the universe and see things a little more clearly we might realize all of us may need to adjust our life to be more in sync with the Earth. That maybe respect and compassion for each other and the world is what has been lost. And that a simpler humbler way of living and leading is what we are being asked to do. Actually the planet has gotten to the point where it is no longer asking, but demanding. It seems until we learn that lesson and let it sink in, sink holes will continue to swallow up the old models whether that is classic corvettes or outdated institutions. I am not arguing we give up our cars, but possibly if we take our foot off the gas of life, we might see what Mother Earth is trying to tell us.

There you have it.

Matthew Dowd is an ABC News analyst and special correspondent.

Opinions expressed in this column do not reflect the views of ABC News.