I’ve always been a “glass half full” kind of person. On social media, I often try to deflect the “people are awful nowadays” or “america used to be great” posts with a dose of perspective. I still feel, in general, people are wonderful way more often than not, and our macro-world is far better than the things folks like to complain about.
But the recent wildfire situations in California have me a little shook up. My usual platitudes aren’t holding up. Real people, people I know, might know or who could be me, are going through some horrible experiences. Many homes were saved, yes, but many could not be saved. Every burnt home means displaced people – real people – people who lose everything.
If you’ve even been near a wildfire, you know how literally hellish it is. The same radiating plasma that makes for a comfortable source of warmth and light and puts a nice light char on your marshmallows in camp can be an unbelievably powerful force – bigger than the giant trees in the forest that it consumes. It makes its own weather, for heaven’s sake.
You can douse your campfire with a bucket of water and a shovel. What douses a wind-whipped wall of flame, many feet high? I’ve seen plane after plane, and chopper after chopper dumping what seems like pitifully small amounts of water or flame retardant on wildfires, and line after line of incredibly brave people with shovels and bulldozers doing battle with these blazes.
The firefighters will prevail, eventually. The wildfires for this year will, eventually, be doused. The scars will be visible on the land for a number of years, and then we will marvel at the recuperative powers of nature. The effect on the people whose homes, property – and sometimes, their lives – were destroyed will have a very tough time. Imagine starting over from scratch. Going from having a home, and the normal stuff we all accumulate during our years, to having nothing. It can break one’s spirit.
It’s simply heartbreaking. Those who can help, must help, any way they can. Most of us have too much stuff – we need to donate some of our stuff. There are agencies and other organizations who will step in for some organized relief, but regular people can also close the gap. Many people are lucky enough to have families that can take them in as they begin the process of re-assembling their lives. Many, though don’t.
You can help through well-established organizations like the Red Cross, but there are many other efforts at work as well. Some are very grass roots – communities, churches, and the like often organize relief efforts to donate goods or money. Do a little homework – sometimes the things you are ready to donate are not what the relief efforts really lack. Sometimes, money is what is needed – other times, it’s clothing, or food or blood. Give from your head as well as your heart.
Maybe optimism is OK, after all. People’s capacity for cruelty or stupidity is surprising, but just as surprising (and far more common, I think) is their capacity to mobilize and help their fellow man.
