Today's news is covered over with images of the damage caused by the Los Angeles fires. As of this writing there are already ten reported deaths and 1,200 buildings damaged or completely destroyed. My heart aches for the people who have been affected by the fires. Whenever I see a catastrophe like this, a fire, an earthquake, hurricane, or any disaster that destroys peoples' lives or homes, I can barely catch my breath because my sympathy runs so deep for those victims. I put myself in their shoes and shutter to think of how that would make me feel - how they must feel. Their lives are changed forever.
In one of the recent northern California fires I saw a woman who was interviewed. Her house had been destroyed and she was crying and could barely speak. Her greatest loss was that her cat had been lost in the fire. She lost her home, all her possessions, family photos, clothes, lifetime memories, everything, but her grief was for her cat; her cat that would crawl up into her lap and fall asleep, that would rub up against her, and speak to her. The object of her greatest love was lost to her forever. I wanted to cry when I saw that.
In the l.A. fires several very expensive homes that were owned by wealthy celebrities were destroyed. Yes, most of them have the resources to replace the physical structures, but that does not mean they were not devastated. They're people too, and they love their possessions, their wardrobes, their photos, maybe awards, maybe gifts that were given to them by their grandchildren and can never be replaced. I feel for all of them and cringe at the thought that that could be me, or someone close to me.
That empathetic feeling does not have to be reserved for situations like the L.A. fires. I look around the world at others who do not have it nearly as good as someone who lives in America has it. Babies are born into a world where their country suffers constant war. Look at Gaza or Syria. Look at Ukraine or North Korea. What does the future of a child born in one of those countries look like? They have a lifetime of oppression, violence, and death to look forward to. In several countries the streets are controlled by militants who kill and savage the populations. In Haiti there is no order and people are indiscriminately brutalized every day. I could go on all day citing places where the future of its people is beyond grim.
That's why I say never forget how fortunate you are. Once I heard a man say he was fortunate because he was born a white, heterosexual, male in America. That sums it up. Those are the privileged ones. There is an expression about a person who is born into a wealthy family. We say they were born on third base. That means they get to pass up the people who are born on first base or earlier, who have to struggle to round the bases.
When I see the suffering of people who are described above as victims of disaster, or born in countries where their very safety is at risk from the day they were born, even though I grew up in a middle class family and had to work for everything I ever had, compared to those less fortunate, I say I was born somewhere between third base and home plate, and I hope I never lose sight of that fact.
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