Page 2 - Sonoma County Gazette 11-17

Dear Readers,
If you ever doubted that PTSD is real, you are probably experiencing it by now. I realized that I may have put the sound of sirens into the back of my mind until I heard them so often that they are forced into front and center of my attention. How many times a day do sirens go off on a normal day? At this point, I have no idea. Each time they sound now, I am on alert to how far away, how long and whether they stop near me.
Our writers kept saying, “I was going to write about something else this month, but now I’m writing about the fire.” There is no one who has not been touched in some way. Even if we did not lose our home, we know someone who has. People say “Sonoma County looks like a War Zone” even though we have no real idea what one looks like other then TV and movies. Only the Veterans among us have that experience as part of their reality.
Now we get to work to recover what we consider our normal lives. For some of us, that’s easy. For others, it will take so long, their “new normal” will take time to identify itself.
“Generosity” is the word of the day and we all hope that continues into the future. The Golden Rule,“Treat others as you want to be treated” gives people direction and purpose. We have housing challenges to meet, especially now that winter is moving fast in our direction. Some people are already moving away, others are trying to figure out how to stay where they love.
The earth will heal more quickly than people. Rain softens the shells of seeds the way compassion softens the boundaries of peoples hearts. Tiny green plants will spring up from scorched earth, and leaves will sprout from burnt trees, because roots run deep, and the tree must grow to survive.
Let’s see where we go from here. Let’s see if we find solutions to problems that have plagued us for a long time. There’s an old adage that if you don’t move toward change on your own, come catastrophe will force it upon you.
This might be what’s happening to us now.
I notice that several of our columnists ask us to BE KIND. That seems like a wonderful message to convey. It covers a lot. Be Kind
2 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 11/17