Thoughts on the LA Fires

I’m currently sitting in a park by the Taipei Expo Center and Los Angeles is experiencing what could very easily be one of the most destructive natural disasters in recent history. I myself recall getting a call one day from my office informing me that the hillside by my mother’s home was on fire and if I had gotten my cat out. I remember driving like a maniac back home and shouting in fury at people who parked their cars along the road up to our family home with phones outstretched to film the fire and smoke. The cat was evacuated prior by the friend of my late mother who called. While I spent a few nights in apprehension waiting to see if everything would go up in smoke, thankfully aside from a lot of soot our home remained untouched.

There’s a lot that I’ve thought about now seeing the fires in LA mainly via internet posts and news articles. The inevitable finger pointing, misinformation or should we just say lies about the root causes and implications, the predatory instinct that’s led to rent hikes while the fires still remain hot. But that’s not what I in the end wish to focus on. In my own season of uncertainty and worry, what I hope remains when the ashes settle is the remarkable way that with very little prodding people have shown up for those affected. For every ridiculous post I see blaming the fires on water management (the water ways protecting the useless smelt aren’t even connected to the aqueducts that lead to LA). I see 10 more with people offering tangible ways to help and offering help themselves. Whatever name you want to give it: God, human goodness, virtue, etc. Like water it settles in the low places.

Narcissists can only see opportunities to feed their bottomless addiction to attention and “respect”. From whatever peak they manage to climb to, all that they achieve will eventually wash away leaving them high and dry. But the natural communalism and willingness to help and support one’s neighbor needs little encouragement or promise of reward for those who live in the valleys and plains of human experience. There’s a lot to be anxious about, the future is uncertain and those in charge seem more maniacal than ever before in at least my lifetime. There’s a lot of apathy around but also in a pinch a lot of compassion ready to show up even when the world is still on fire.

Please consider donating to help with relief efforts, I have a list of organizations directly helping here