Rebuilding

The mantra after every natural disaster is "We will rebuild right away."

It makes you wonder where we (humans) fit into the natural order. As horrified as I am to watch this beautiful place go up in flames, to watch the people whose homes were lost, hear of lives lost, watch landscapes dessimated, I can't forget that this is part of the life cycle of this climate.

I heard a geologist talking about the chaparral and how some plants depend on fire and smoke for germination, how they are uniquely adapted to this inevitability, and how civilization has stamped out the small fires that would cleanse the countryside, allowing, instead, for old brush to accumulate and become fuel for the perfect firestorm.

Just as inevitable as the fact that wildfires will char the landscape again is the fact that we will rebuild again. Rarely learning from these hard lessons, we will replace those buildings that were in the path of a larger force.

So, the next time the Santa Ana winds from the desert blow across our dessicated landscape and ignite a flame, even those who know better will watch with shock and horror as nature puts us in our place.