Healing Thoughts

There is nothing anyone can do to change it, to stop it. Fire is one thing; the drought is different. It is nature caused or so we think. The fires in Oklahoma, though devastating, we can try to fight.  The fire fighters do so with skill, daring, courage and a danger to themselves, but fire chews the dry brush and solid homes into the soft ash of memory.

Lightening starts some fires. Carelessness starts others. The tears of loss and smiles of safety on the same face parallel our conflict and appreciation of nature.

The stories of neighbor helping neighbor, confirm our desire for community. There are hundreds of stories not only of crushing flames and charred places, but stories of hopes and wishes, shattered dreams, drying crops, economic loss and shock.

In times of such destruction values change rapidly. The acquired stuff of daily living is no match for the loss of a treasured family picture or the ache of not knowing if a pet survived. Seeing your yearly profit wilt to the ground is very hard.

There is never a quick end to all tragedy. No easy answers to the wailed questions of why and no relief when cries have run out of tears.

It is not possible to hold each hand of so many so hurting from the drought and the fires. All we can do, in this human family, is to be aware and to care. There is something powerful in that and it heals.