Opus 2025-039: The Yellow Snow May Be Lemonade

Thursday on a Zoom meeting we got to talking about the L.A. fires.  At least three of the group live in the ash strewn valleys.  One lives within the “no-go zone”.  He is in an interesting situation.  They are not forcing people to leave but they have turned off the electricity.  They were first told to boil their tap water then told not to boil it because that would release poisons that had been absorbed.  He can leave but he can’t come back.  It is typical California nonsense.

What struck me was the positive things he had to say about his situation.  He said it was bringing people out of their houses and getting them to talk.  He was encouraged by the spirit of community that was emerging.  He was getting to know people he had lived beside for years.  It doesn’t rebuild the homes or bring the dead back to life but it is an aspect of hardship that we overlook.  

Another guy on the call, who does not live in California, reminisced on the experience I shared with him in Boston during the Blizzard of ‘78.  Martial law was declared and you could not drive.  People came out of their houses and met in the snow clogged streets and got to know each other.  It was an unexpected benefit of the attack by Mother Nature.

So be encouraged.  The destruction is not over yet but life goes on and people are busy making lemonade.

homo unius libri