I’m still learning. Aren’t we all? But specifically, I’m still learning about blogging. I’m having a challenging time actually letting people know this site exists. So who am I blogging for? Right now, just myself. To get some practice. To make sure I still can write complete sentences. To try and be honest yet somewhat diplomatic about the daily thoughts raging through my brain. Today those thoughts focus on the fires in the North Bay which are destroying an area of the world I truly love. Steven and I had our wedding reception in Sonoma. We lived in Petaluma when we were first married. Wine tasting was a part of life. That part of my life is no longer, but the natural beauty of the area was one I would cherish. Now that it is decimated, there will need to be much rebuilding. It will happen, but it will be different. Of course, that is part of life. Change.
At present the air quality here in Contra Costa County, some 40-60 miles away is poor. There is a fine ash in the air, and the sky looks like something from Tatooine in the first Star Wars movie. Yellow light, orange skies. Part of me is grateful that I’m not working because my mind is so distracted by the day to day of this tragedy. But then there have been a lot of tragedies in our country this year and this is just another.
Life works in cycles I realize. This one right now is not a good one. Hopefully good will come from it though. I see people volunteering, offering to shelter those without homes, donating supplies and money. People are inherently good. That is one thing I have found seeing this at a local level. Looting has been minimal, thank God. But meanwhile, I see Puerto Rico, three weeks after Hurricane Maria and the people there struggling for food and water. There is only 10% power on the island. We thankfully, don’t have that issue. I fear once again, the haves, of which there are and were many in the North Bay, will manage, while the have-nots, in Puerto Rico will not. How do we change this?
Leadership helps. We are seeing leadership in California. Puerto Rico has leadership but they are not empowered because they have been struggling financially. Neither one of our areas, California or Puerto Rico, can look to the Federal government, though right now, the Federal government knows they would have more to lose if they cut off California. Puerto Rico doesn’t have that luxury. California is the sixth largest economy in the world I’ve heard. The U.S. seems to need us. But the thing is we need Puerto Rico too. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory after being acquired in 1898 following the Spanish-American war. While its citizens are supposed to be able to move freely between the island and the mainland, current leadership doesn’t seem to care for that arrangement. Like a business not cared for to flourish, the current administration wants to declare bankruptcy and “cut its losses”. That may work fine in business, but that should not work fine for what used to be a great nation that is being led blindly by a man with no experience or knowledge let alone ability to care about anyone but himself.
I’m hoping those of us who have watched devastation in our backyards of Texas, Florida, and California will reach out to Puerto Rico as well. I hope other states will reach out as well. For in this time of hurricane, earthquake, and fire, no one knows where the next disaster may strike and who might need help again.
