There were a lot of fires in California recently.

So, as you can see, I've dispensed with my usual bad pun blog entry title this week. The California wildfires didn't seem like appropriate comedic fare. Still, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge what happened recently in some type of blog form or other. First and foremost, my clan and I are more than safe. I don't think we were closer than15 miles from any of the fires, but thanks for asking, as many of you did.
Formalities out of the way, I've found it interesting, my reaction to the whole thing. That is to say, my STAGGERING indifference. I'm not proud of that fact. I'm not ashamed of that fact. It's how I've felt. I've been checking myself out the last few days to try and figure out why that is.
What I've learned is it's a Scuba medley mix of thoughts/emotions/opinions.
For starters, I think being physically removed from it inherently numbs one. Neither in my home neighborhood, nor where I work, was I ever close. The closest I came was my field trip to the O.C. last week. I could smell the residual smoke, but again, I was still miles away. So essentially, my direct exposure was not much different than my people's back home, watching it on the news, save for the bitchin' orange moon that resulted one night.
Most interestingly I suppose, was what I observed from the locals. There was a pride, reminiscent of that of the New Yorkers, post 9/11. It was based on their gumption, wherewithal, and unity in addressing the situation. To their credit, they absolutely did, band together, keep good order, and rally to get eveyone out of harms way in an expedient matter. That said, comparisons inevitably arose to the most recent prior calamity, Hurricane Katrina. I was struck by an offensive smugness and condescenion in some folks attitude.
Obviously, I can't declare this a universal opinion, but I have to say, I was disgusted by certain parties' take on the two tragedies. Unlike Katrina, wildfires are a fairly well precendeted phenomena out here. Hell, there've been roughly 7 bouts of wildfires just in the year I've been here. Conversely, a hurricane submerging an entire metropolis is unprecedented in my lifetime. Secondly, by and large, a fire moves relatively slowly. Slowly enough anyway, such that one could look at the mountain backdrop behind one's house enough to say, "that fire is moving away. I think it'd be best if we got out of here." Lastly, and most significantly, there was a prevailing mindset of all of these people being forced to evacate, like there were now going to be a million refugees, driving aimlessly and destinationless in their SUV's. However many were temporarily displaced, almost all of them had a place to go back to ultimately. Some homes were lost, but most were not. Those that were, I'm gonna venture to say the homeowners have some type of insurance, and life will go on. Meanwhile, two years removed, I can only imagine how many Katrina victims still have nothing.
I don't know what I want from this little rant. At a time when I could've potentially been given the impetus to feel more of a kinship with my fellow Californians, somehow they managed to alienate me.