November 10, 2018, Prescott-
I woke up from a longer nap than usual, this afternoon.
Getting up this morning,
at my customary workday time of 4:30,
and going through my customary
workday morning routine,
I got going and made it
to Flagstaff,
in time to help a small crew
of firefighters and Red Cross workers,
in checking on homes,
for smoke detectors
and coaching residents
on fire safety and escape plans.
The proactivity in all this,
is not lost on the citizens
of that forested community.
We all watch our neighbour to the west,
and have friends or family,
in some cases in both north and south.
We see Paradise lost, Malibu mangled
and the San Fernando , smoldering.
People are doing
what is necessary
to get out of harm’s way.
Teachers piled students
into their own vehicles,
and damning the torpedoes,
got their precious cargo
to safety.
This is what it looks like
to give all.
We watch, from Arizona,
and elsewhere,
and we remember.
North Carolina remembers,
the storm surge,
the rivers rising,
and people tending to one another.
Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts remember,
much the same,
and people tending to one another.
Florida remembers,
priceless communities leveled,
and people tending to one another.
We remember, here in Yavapai County,
the gaping maws,
of one fire after another,
consuming subdivisions
and forest dream houses,
and threatening to devour
the centers of thriving towns.
This has been the lot,
of man up against nature,
worldwide,
and from time immemorial.
Now, we see it in Real Time,
in places some of us have been,
and in places we can only see in our minds.
I recall visiting Malibu,
a few years back,
and standing on a ridge,
with a troubled young woman,
sobbing and smoking a cigarette,
nearby.
She put out that cigarette,
when she no longer needed solitude,
and walked, with the extinguished butt,
back to her car,
her emotional state somewhat calmed,
by a few minutes in silence,
looking out over the glorious expanse,
called Mulholland.
She barely noticed me,
but I recognized her immediately,
a public figure,
whose privacy was honoured that day.
I hope she, and her neighbours and friends,
escaped harm, as this most recent
burst of wrath scours the land.
I visited the Martin Theater,
in Panama City, Florida,
nearly four years ago.
I see that it did not make it
through Hurricane Michael,
just as much of the community
that greeted me so warmly,
did not make it through
the Monster, unscathed.
The Martin will return, though,
and Panama City will rise again.
on more solid footing.
Malibu will rise again,
and the Mulholland wilderness
will remain a refuge
for the disconsolate and the world-weary.
Paradise will be regained.
We who love,
will give our all,
again and again,
for as long as it takes.
Today started out
as an homage to my late mother-in-law,
whose memorial service,
I was unable to attend.
It turned into a statement,
that we will stand
with our family,
with our neighbours
and with all of our children,
to keep this divine trust
called humanity,
in a sacred place,
called home.
A Sagittarian Seeker 