Once upon a time a girl named Laura lived in Columbus, Ohio. She had a nice family, and got good grades, but it was always rainy and cold in Columbus, which was neither nice nor good, so she wore lots of sweaters and turned the heat up when her dad wasn’t looking.

Horse racing is part of Naadam, a festival organized every July in Mongolia to celebrate the People’s Revolution. Using children as jockeys in such races has a centuries-long tradition. Boys and girls as young as 5 (although the law imposes a minimum age limit of 7) ride in races that can be dangerous, with hundreds of horses running across the steppe at distances of 12 to 28 kilometres at great speeds. (Photo by Tomasz Gudzowaty)

Mah Chan, a Long Neck Padaung hill tribe woman weaves a scraf for sale to tourists in a small village where 30 familes live July 13, 2006 in Chiang Dao, Thailand. All the Long Neck villages are set up for tourists and just over a year ago the hill tribe members were hand picked to move closer to Chiang Mai from more remote communities so that they could be more accessible. The Padaung women famously wear brass rings around their necks, beginning at five-years-old, to distort the growth of their collarbones and making them look like they have long necks. They are originally from eastern Burma near the Thailand border. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

People, carry food and water, past a tractor stuck in mud, stones and debris that were piled in a flood in the mountain village of Sipkovica, just above the town of Tetovo, in northwestern Macedonia, on Tuesday, August 4, 2015. A small number of people including children have died in floods that erupted after an hour of heavy torrential rains and strong winds that hit Tetovo and northwestern region of Macedonia late on Monday. (Photo by Zoran Andonov/AP Photo)

A man is seen trapped amid the debris of an under-construction flyover after it collapsed in Kolkata, India, March 31, 2016. Using saws, small cranes and bare hands, rescuers on Friday cleared the crumbled concrete and twisted steel from an overpass that collapsed onto a crowded Kolkata neighborhood, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 80. With more than half the debris cleared by Friday morning, 67 people have been pulled out alive, police said. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A grey whale greets tourists in boat in, Baja California, Mexico, March 2017. A pair of newly born grey whale calves intrigued by visiting tourists eagerly swim over to the group to get a closer look. Urged on by their mother, the small calves confidently went up to the tour group who were visiting San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja California, Mexico. This adorable moment was captured by zoologist and wildlife photographer, Mark Carwardine on his visit to the area in March 2017. (Photo by Mark Carwardine/Barcroft Images)

We are all drawn to fire, entranced by its beauty and ferociousness. Its brilliance draws us in like moths to a candle flame. Thus, many of the celebrations that humans have involve lighting fires. They can be big or small; there could be many little lights or one giant inferno; they may float on water, burn on land, or rise high into the skies. Loi Krathong is a festival that is held each year in Thailand and a number of other places. During this festival thousands of little fires are lighted, presenting a marvelous sight for all the onlookers. It is believed that this tradition is an adaptation of Brahmanical festival, which was adopted by Thai Buddhists to honor Buddha.

Elements of nature are too powerful for humans to subdue, yet it didn’t stop the most courageous individuals from trying. Conquering air, land, fire, water, and even the very fabric of reality – this is the ultimate goal of humanity. For now, we can only marvel at the beauty and tremble in awe before the Mother Nature. A short film “Ocean Gravity,” written and directed by Julie Gautier and Guillaume Nery, reminds us of how small and insignificant a human body is, as it is being swept away by an ocean current. Nevertheless, it never stopped people from attempting to subjugate these unstoppable forces, and someday, maybe the humanity will come out victorious.