What Matters Most
View from the Griffith Observatory on a foggy day in October of 2024
I think, at some point in our lives, all of us have learned that life can be turned upside down in seconds, and nothing will ever be the same again. Like most of you, I have been watching the horrific news coming out of LA county as raging wildfires have decimated the land, homes, businesses, schools, places of worship, and taken lives.
It seems that no matter where you live there is some kind of natural disaster that could destroy your home and cherished possessions. From hurricanes, flooding, blizzards, tornados, and wildfires we are reminded that the power of nature is greater than man’s. At the start of this week, my focus was on clearing up Christmas decorations, and decluttering my collection of things I no longer wanted. In light of the news, I was now re-evaluating my possessions through the lens of what would I pack in a to-go bag if I was told I had to evacuate from my home?
Some of you have faced this awful question, and I am sorry that you had to suffer that agony. Of course the obvious answers that top the list are family and pets followed by the necessary paperwork that will help you to survive and rebuild, medications, some clothes, food and water.
View down the street from where we stayed in Pasadena
All week I have watched events unfold from New England worrying about the safety of my daughter who lives and works in LA. That most precious of things that I would want to secure the safety of, my daughter’s life, is out of my control. I think the hardest lesson for parents to learn is that of letting your child leave your nest to start building their own. Thankfully, my child lives further south of where the fires are, but she has to contend with the poor air quality and the challenges that are going to be facing the entire community once these fires are finally put out.
There has been a lot of talk about the importance of engaging in building community. We come together to help those in need at times of crisis, but let us look around our own home town or city and seek to help support the community before crisis hits because unfortunately crisis will hit some day. Climate change is a real and present danger. Even here in New England this fall brush fires broke out as a result of an extended period of drought.
We all need to learn about how nature works in the wide variety of ecosystems that make up our country. Understanding the basics of environmental science will help to slow the mis- and dis- information that spreads rapidly at times of crisis. Most importantly we need to remember that human technology sometimes, and most often cannot, over come the power of nature.
Sketch from our drive through Malibu on the PCH
In the end, this week has been one of reflection on what matters most to me. I encourage you to do the same realizing that our ideas may be vastly different from one another, but that’s what contributes to each of us being unique. What I might choose to put in my to-go bag might be different than what you will put in yours. But let us take the time in the week(s) ahead to seriously make a list, maybe even to collect a few of those precious things into one place so if, and let us hope it never comes, that if you must flee your home, you will have what you need to rebuild.
Take care of yourself and those you love this week!
Maryanne
P.S. I have peppered this piece with photos taken this past October from our visit to LA spent with our daughter. We drove through, walked in, and explored many of the areas that have since been destroyed, and I feel blessed to have been able to experience them. The sketches were produced as part of the Inktober drawing challenge that I participated in.
