Where there is smoke there is fire and where there is fire there is light
Not so much a creative leap today, but where will we find the light if the entire west coast is shadowed in smoke? Today, there is no wind as I stuff laurel clippings into the yard debris can, the sun is obscured and rusted, blood-red and the light it casts the same eerie glow of last August’s total solar eclipse. I had looked forward to returning to the clean, coastal breeze.
In Utah, on my recent visit, while sitting with family on the cement patio, back yard not yet put-in the cracked fissures of spring-muddened earth were now parched wasteland complete with red ants and tumble weeds catching themselves in the metal window wells of every less than one year house in the new development. A subdivision of nature and wild and denial of what my coastal-raised son thought was an erupting volcano as yet another fire broke out of bounds, closing Spanish Fork Canyon--but there is a denial, a complacency, with sprinkler systems and air-conditioned to 65 interiors.
At the western-wear store the beautifully aging rodeo queen told me that in Sanpete County the other big fire was burning 1000 acres per minute!
On our drive home, Idaho was faring no better and near Hood River, driving through the night, we encountered raining ash. Still, I imagined at home we would be free of the burning air, where the ocean works as a great filter, but even here there is this claustrophobic campfire vibe, like if we all sit together, tell good stories, the brilliantly lighted morning will come and we’ll all go on as we did before the horrors began.
Google says that people who search fire most often also search shooting and drought speaking perhaps, to new, negative connotations?
And, what about the trumpeted warnings of Revelations? And why do so many people believe problems are all God or all man and that there isn’t some truth in both? Meaning, you either believe in God or you believe in climate change? And, mostly, today I am just wondering why most people aren’t more alarmed by so much smoke in the air, no matter the reason for it being there?
Interesting conclusion. Why are these ideas so segregated? I'm so wishy-washy that depending on mood one side of an argument is always relevant. Always thought that was a bad attribute, but maybe it isn't after all.
I'm not sure, but like you, I find relevance in both sides of a lot of issues. People like to call it wishy-washy like we ought to get tight on one side, but really, I think it shows more empathy and intelligence to accept the complexities and know that no matter the final decision there will be both positive and negative consequences on either side. You know, that whole belief that everything and everyone is all part of a single whole, so many say it, but believe their side only will get us there.
I see in the article you reference that more than 80 percent of U.S. wildfires are caused by people
Scary stuff!
It’s the Wednesday prompt delivery team here with the prompt for today: https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-307-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-bulb
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