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Rabid-Echidna
The spectrum always seems to shift back to the left. What a terrible stroke of bad luck, and things were just starting to go right.

Age 34, Male

I am the walrus

UCSB

Santa Barbara, CA

Joined on 9/10/03

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The Colossus Phoenix

Posted by Rabid-Echidna - October 24th, 2007


600 square miles burned, 1300 homes destroyed, 350,000 more evacuated, an estimate of 910,000 people darting from the flame, and a satellite image of Southern California makes it look like the entire state has taken up smoking. The wind is as relentless as ever, the fires still not controlled, and people caught in the middle left with an ominous black smoke cloud that filters out the sunlight leaving the land draped in apocalyptic orange. 361,000 acres are left as little more than a gigantic black cigarette burn in the wake, and after not too long statistics stop losing their meaning. How does one comprehend 910,000 people? With the deaths of three people it's possible to gain insight into the lives of those three. Learn where they worked, how they grew up, hear stories about their lives from people that knew them, but statistics are more impersonal. You can't think of 910,000 people in terms of individuality. It becomes nothing more than an impersonal number by which damage can be assessed. A handy reference while doing a research paper on the effects of the 2007 fires in Southern California to make the report look more professional.

Already there's talk of the coming failures in the system. They will receive the sort of federal help that the survivors of Hurricane Katrina were granted, the insurance companies will deny their claims and perpetuate the image that you're insured unless something bad happens. There will be paperwork, lots of people in business suits saying that they're sorry, and the history of humanity will have another scar for the pessimists to glance at and cringe. Already there are rumors that the fires were started by Al Qaeda, showing that it never takes long for the Paranoid American mentality to blame a major disaster on the invisible enemy that's everywhere at all times and that must constantly be feared lest we be caught off guard and murdered.

Going by the more widely held idea that it's impossible to tell if the fires were even started by arson, I think it's better to avoid jumping to conclusions. This is not 9/11 all over again, there's no need to start with the conspiracy theories yet. Another Loose Change video circling around the web and making everyone hate the government serves no purpose at the moment, that can be decided based on whether or not Bush decides to give Schwartzenegger the requested money to help pay for all the damages after the fires are extinguished and to help get supplies to the people that have been evacuated and are now residing in baseball stadiums and shelters. Even if he doesn't, the negative repercussions come later. The fire is far from under control, and even the self-obsessed evil would be unwise to ruin its own image by denying help to those obviously in need.

Being in the moment is a different experience entirely. It wipes away all the frivolous nonsense and manages to shock people back into rationality. Knowing that there are people you knew in high school that are attending Pepperdine and might have their college burned down, or talking to them online as they say they have to clear out of the area because they can see the fire over the hill sends a different message. It's no longer about who should get the blame like it usually is, it's about focusing on the important issue of how you can help out your fellow man in the meantime. The only thing more ominous than the smoke is the knowledge that all sorts of bureaucratic hellfire is going to occur after the flames have died down and everyone will go back to sleep.

But despite the inevitable inundation of excuses, this is a glimpse into what may very well be the true spirit of humanity. Only the cataclysm can pry their eyes away from the everyday distractions and make them focus on the big picture. Those images of people in a frenzy, grabbing their children and fleeing will work as a tool in addition to being an account of the devestation; a necessary and forced awakening that transcends the political division, the selfish mentality, the superficial ideology. An almost ethereal positive reaction that occurs only as a side effect of all the sadness and despair. Another one of those fleeting feelings, but one that contains no hint of malice despite being surrounded in darkness. Somewhere in the wreckage, the fire will leave a sparkling diamond of what humanity as a whole could be.

The Colossus Phoenix


Comments

closest thing I ever got to a national disaster was years ago when a hurricane hit. I was on the roof trying to get rid of abandoned rotting duck eggs. Next thing I know I'm swept away in a vortex of shingles, leaves, water, and yolk.
i hate roof ducks.

The closest I've come was one of the older California fires where the fire came pretty close to our area. This one just sends the smoke and ash our way and was enough to make my college shut down the campus for a few days, the old one was burning down houses within a few miles of my house and a bunch of people I knew had to evacuate.

California is kind of a crummy place to live, really.

LOLOLOLO PWND!