My heart breaks for the people of Los Angeles impacted by the devastating fires. This is our long-feared worst case scenario come to reality; a wildfire in tandem with urban firestorms, straining the firefighting resources but also the water systems themselves. For the people who lost their lives, homes, pets, businesses, and cherished institutions, they are suffering the most directly, but these fires and their aftermath will be a systemic shock to the Los Angeles area and Southern California in general. We have been lucky enough to escape this doomsday scenario until now, but this really questions our very way of life here in this bone-dry and crowded region of almost 30 million people. Every year I get tired of the summer heat of the desert and want to move to the mountains, and then almost every year the fires start again and I resign myself to cooking away for the foreseeable future down here where our vegetation very politely desiccates itself under the searing hot sun and gives way to rocks and sand.
So I urge you to help where you can, keep yourself safe by signing up for evacuation alerts, the Watch Duty app in particular is great for this, but don’t get consumed by the 24/7 news, the nightmare-inducing footage, the conspiracy theories & the lies. This is a time where social media has a chance to be useful for sharing information, keeping people safe via evacuation notices, and helping people who are offering assistance with those who need it and vice versa. Beyond these parameters, social media, and just media in general about this topic is only raising your anxiety and sapping your focus, because you have important things that need to get done, and if your metaphorical house isn’t in order, you can’t help others.
I think it’s a universal inclination to become completely engrossed in following the events of a devastating disaster, but what helps me avoid that is to set a timer for a set amount of time to catch up on the recent events, and then pace those out throughout the day as a reward for accomplishing a specific task. That way when you are learning about the newest developments, there actually is something new, as opposed to just endless scrolling of similar content and other people’s superfluous opinions. It’s really hard to center yourself in a time like this, but remember you need to do that to be able to serve others. Please enjoy this video of mine from several years ago about self care in a crisis, why it’s not selfish to replenish your mind, body, and spirit in an intense crisis, it’s necessary.
I’m wishing everyone out there affected by these fires the utmost sympathy, and for the firefighters and first responders, the utmost gratitude.
Today I write in sorrow,
William Z. Brennan