We live in a valley, surrounded on all sides by steep hillsides covered in pine trees and snags. Monday, a fire started on the top of one of the hills, and began moving toward our home in a slow but steady pace.
We watched as the smoke began billowing, and knew that it was more than an isolated field fire with limited fuel. By the time we saw the first helicopter scoop a load of water out of the river, and bring it to the blaze, we were reassured that the authorities knew and were responding. We became more concerned these last days as we saw several single-engine airtankers, three light helicopters and a heavy helicopter join the fight. Now we see busloads of firefighters began the hard climbs and digging the fire lines to stop it's movement toward our tiny hamlet and our homes.
The fire turned and lessoned last night, and the helicopters returned to their base. We went outside last night, finally able to breath as the smoke was blown away, and we looked up to the crest of the hill when we saw it......an orange glow growing bigger and bigger behind the hill, and moving our way. Authorities quickly mobilized and reported that it had jumped their lines. Tonight is a windstorm, and all of the residents of our town are now preparing the things to take with us if we need to leave.
We're packing our cars full of survival things.....clothes, food, water, blankets and checkbooks...just in case. We're gonna grab the things we use to do the Works of God, like a computers and Bibles. We're gonna take the things most important to us....the pictures, and the things of memory. We're going to pack our car up to the top, and carry as much away as we can shove around our precious family members, and we are going to drive away.
As I sat at my window, watching our moment of destiny unfold around us, and wonder if my family will be joining the exodus and displacement of other refugees, I suddenly gain an understanding of the people that stayed behind in New Orleans after being warned repeatedly to leave.
It wasn't a matter of choice...it was the poor with no car, the disabled with no legs, the sick with no strength, the elderly with no one.....it was these people who had to stay because they had no way to get out. It was these people who the authorites knew were there, and it is these people who now are paying the ultimate price for not being part of the elite. Survival of the fittest...survival of the richest....survival of the smartest.......
What a shame for America. How terrible it is that we forgot to put them in the forefront of the evacuation effort, and how sinful it was for us to judge them stupid for their choices.
I don't know if that fire is going to come to my home tonight....I'll be watching closely and if it comes, we will climb into my car packed full of things, and drive away. But you can be sure of one thing.....as I am driving to safety, I will be stopping at every neighbors house I know that contain the poor and the disabled and the sick and the elderly, and I will be throwing out my things to make room for them.
Sadly, before the New Orleans tragedy, I don't even know if I would have thought to check.
Bucker
We watched as the smoke began billowing, and knew that it was more than an isolated field fire with limited fuel. By the time we saw the first helicopter scoop a load of water out of the river, and bring it to the blaze, we were reassured that the authorities knew and were responding. We became more concerned these last days as we saw several single-engine airtankers, three light helicopters and a heavy helicopter join the fight. Now we see busloads of firefighters began the hard climbs and digging the fire lines to stop it's movement toward our tiny hamlet and our homes.
The fire turned and lessoned last night, and the helicopters returned to their base. We went outside last night, finally able to breath as the smoke was blown away, and we looked up to the crest of the hill when we saw it......an orange glow growing bigger and bigger behind the hill, and moving our way. Authorities quickly mobilized and reported that it had jumped their lines. Tonight is a windstorm, and all of the residents of our town are now preparing the things to take with us if we need to leave.
We're packing our cars full of survival things.....clothes, food, water, blankets and checkbooks...just in case. We're gonna grab the things we use to do the Works of God, like a computers and Bibles. We're gonna take the things most important to us....the pictures, and the things of memory. We're going to pack our car up to the top, and carry as much away as we can shove around our precious family members, and we are going to drive away.
As I sat at my window, watching our moment of destiny unfold around us, and wonder if my family will be joining the exodus and displacement of other refugees, I suddenly gain an understanding of the people that stayed behind in New Orleans after being warned repeatedly to leave.
It wasn't a matter of choice...it was the poor with no car, the disabled with no legs, the sick with no strength, the elderly with no one.....it was these people who had to stay because they had no way to get out. It was these people who the authorites knew were there, and it is these people who now are paying the ultimate price for not being part of the elite. Survival of the fittest...survival of the richest....survival of the smartest.......
What a shame for America. How terrible it is that we forgot to put them in the forefront of the evacuation effort, and how sinful it was for us to judge them stupid for their choices.
I don't know if that fire is going to come to my home tonight....I'll be watching closely and if it comes, we will climb into my car packed full of things, and drive away. But you can be sure of one thing.....as I am driving to safety, I will be stopping at every neighbors house I know that contain the poor and the disabled and the sick and the elderly, and I will be throwing out my things to make room for them.
Sadly, before the New Orleans tragedy, I don't even know if I would have thought to check.
Bucker
2 comments:
wow....I didn't even think of that!
I am one of those people that said, "hey...they said to evacuate, you had plenty of warning...."
I just assumed that people without vehicles etc...would have someone looking out for them, and didn't even group them into the people that stayed!
That is an easy thing to fall into...always assuming people in need have an agency or other family to turn to in an emergency or whatever.
very humbling blog!
I'll bet that most adults who have a decent life thought the same thing....And I'll bet most adults who live on the edge, never knowing for sure what tomorrow will bring, knew exactly why the people stayed...
May God forgive us all, who judge without truth, but repent of our ways.
Bucker
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