California Wildfires

I mean, the last few days, I have felt like the end of the world was coming...

Sunday evening I walked out of a store around 6pm, and headed towards my car. Upon exiting, my eyes immediately shot up to the sky, and it was just God awful. The sunset was competing with immense plumes of blood red and black smoke. And I will tell you, the sun was a pathetic adversary to what I was witnessing. I was aware of the fires going on elsewhere, but nothing near my location. As I made my way to the top of the parking structure, there it was, all laid out before me. The vantage point I had was like no other, just devastatingly brilliant, and for a few minutes I was just mesmerized by the colors. Eventually, I came to my senses, and realized the direction I was looking...right at my gosh damn neighborhood. WTF! I threw my shit in the car, peeled out of the garage, and immediately phoned my wife. As I could have guessed, she was completely unaware of the tragic events taking place near our home. I told her to look outside, towards the east, and start thinking of which possessions would join us for our great escape. When I arrived, all the neighbors were outside of their houses, all with that same look upon their faces. That look that just screams - What the fuck am I supposed to do now? I listened as people hypothesized to how the firemen would battle the blaze, and their theories on an advancing wildfire. I figured it wasn't the appropriate time to then voice my opinion on how f-ing stupid I thought they were. Absolutely nothing worse in this world than an absolute dipshit, self-declaring himself as the village fire expert!

Everyone is just staring to the east, watching the orange glow come closer and closer to our brand new, beloved neighborhood. Then it got really good, as a couple more idiots decided they should go take a closer look, to get a "better feel" for the threat. Just what the fire department needs, a bunch of dickheads in their cars, driving up for a better view of the blaze, and getting in the gosh damn way. So, of course I did the logical thing - and I called "Shotgun!" As we drove closer, I realized just how fucking stupid people really are, as hoards of individuals had the same idea as we did. We were actually way under dressed for the apparent party, as people were turning this into a night of entertainment. People had lawn chairs out, sitting in groups, sitting on top of their vehicles. Blankets, coolers, the whole 9 yards! It might as well been the 4th of July. As for us, we didn't make it much further, and the fire...the fire just looked like hell itself was making a house call. At this point, I'm only thinking of two things. My new house is going to burn, and I know damn well i do not have enough homeowners insurance.

Needless to stay, I didn't get a lot of sleep Sunday night, as I was just waiting to hear the knock on the door to be evacuated. The smoke was becoming intolerable, as even the inside of the house was beginning to take on the scent. It's that same feeling you get when you wake up 30 minutes before your alarm clock is set to go off - can't sleep because you fear it going off any second. The next thing I knew, I really was hearing my alarm clock, and I went to take a peak out of the blinds. The smoke was all around, and was still shutting out the sun. I grabbed a face mask, and journeyed outside to get a damage report. Yes, the smoke was still quite overwhelming, as it was tough to keep its sting out of your eyes. But, through squinted vision, I could see that we had dodged a bullet. The wind, the ash, and the smoke, did manage however to really turn this picturesque area into a complete mess. Everything stunk, there was soot everywhere, and fallen tree limbs lined most of the roads.

It seemed like we really got lucky this time, but as I turned on the news, it was jaw-drop-time once again. Overnight, the perfect storm of arid conditions, Santa Ana winds, and brush fires, just did its job to kick the ever living shit out of this beautiful state. Fires had broken out all over the southland, and they were taking homes, they were taking businesses, and they were taking lives. San Diego was just getting killed, and by that morning, over 250,000 homes had already been evacuated. By the afternoon, the numbers had already trumped the travesties seen during Hurricane Katrina, and there was no end in sight.

Fast forward a couple of days, the fires are still blazing, and firefighters are working endlessly, tirelessly, to save as many lives and structures as possible. I think we can all agree, that this will go down as one of the major natural disasters of our time. People's lives have been forever changed, and in some instances, taken. People will be waking up all over the southland tomorrow morning without their homes, without their possessions, without so much as a single tangible memory. An absolute disaster. Now, I know it's early, and I could be proved wrong here, but where is the controversy?...Where are all of the people shouting at the top of their lungs, how these fires were ultimately the responsibility of George Bush's right wing administration?...More importantly, where are all the so called minority leaders, screaming for the heads of those in charge, who have so purposely fallen derelict of their duties to protect the wanting masses?...Will we see a telethon?...Who will be the first tearful celebrity to stand before a camera, asking the rest of the country to contribute to the cause?...Who is going to be the asshole this time, who voices his thoughts on how our President hates black people?...Or perhaps, in this case, because of Orange County and Malibu, maybe it's really the white people that he detests? These are all questions, that I will soon hopefully get answers to.

Please leave your comments below, as I am interested to see your thoughts on this matter.