In Waldo Canyon, near Colorado Springs, there is a wildfire. The cause is unknown but within 48 hours it has grown from nothing to 3400 acres with zero containment. Colorado has a lot of military bases. They have some of those giant C130 airplanes sitting on the ground.. Tied down by red tape. (Sounds like Hurricane Katrina all over again) The local congressman heard about it and started kicking.. Well.. you can finish the sentence. Four of the big planes have been released for action. YEA! (When was the last time we had a reason to cheer about a legislator?)
6000 people have been evacuated from their homes. My sister is one of those under mandatory evacuation. It is a highly stressful situation. What would you do if you were told that you had to leave your home and might lose everything? Could you calmly choose what to take and what to leave if you had only minutes to decide? This is a frightening, life changing situation that was not caused by my sister or the home-owners affected. It is a terrifying situation beyond their control.
I can’t help but see the similarities to another tragedy that is taking place all over this country without the visual drama of a voracious fire being fought by air and ground crews. Hundreds of thousands of people are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. They aren’t deadbeats or gaming the system. (They didn’t start the fire) They were not credit risks when they took out their mortgage. The people I am talking about were hard working people with adequate salaries… Then the economy tanked. We can go into banks speculating and Wall Street gambling with derivatives.. At this time the point is mute. It happened due to a variety of reasons and these hard-working people lost their jobs or have lost income. For them it is the Waldo Canyon Fire. All of a sudden their homes are threatened and they could lose everything. What would you do?
In no way am I diminishing wildfire victims. I am watching a live feed from Colorado Springs and praying for the fire crews efficacy. I want my sister and the other home owners to keep their homes that they cherish as much as any of us want to keep ours. That is the point: a wild fire is threatening.
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