Headlines abound.  Largest fire in California history now contained.  Highway 101 closed due to fire and mud slides.  Highway 150 closed.  People have died.  Hundreds of homes lost to fire.  Oh, no, here comes the rain.  Mud slides, flooding and more deaths.  Thomas Fire now a part of history.   And yet it continues.  We have a long recovery to come.

 

Over a month of tragedy, pain, loss of homes, possessions, life.  So much sorrow. 

 

And yet, today I heard a speaker at our Rotary meeting talk of barely escaping her Ventura ranch property with her life.  She then turned around to see how she could help her neighbors and has started an organization to be better prepared for the next event.  She and others like her with a spirit of community, people who want to help but are not sure what to do.  We were all there in this state last month and still are working to help, reaching out to those in need.  Neighbors help neighbors, strangers help strangers, Rotarians and numerous others deliver food and supplies, new friends are made…somewhere we reach down inside of ourselves and find the strength, compassion and drive to “do something!” 

 

In addition to the natural disasters of fire and flood and mud, we also had our problems of lack of water for the firefighters, broken water system back-ups, non-working fire hydrants.  So, after so much bad news, where is the good?

 

 

Driving to Rotary today I saw burned, blackened hills and fields, shriveled cactus, earth crusted with grey ash.  Then I looked again.  A soft tinge of green grasses beginning the recovery.  Mother nature is pushing up new little plants to cover the scars of the fire.  A new beginning.  We must do the same; a new start, a little at a time, recovering from our scars and building our lives and memories anew. 

 

Harriet Clune

President 2017-2018

Rotary Ventura East