Trying To Reason

And now I must confess
I could use some rest
I can't run at this pace very long
Yes it's quite insane

Think I hurt my brain  - Jimmy Buffett

Those lines come from a song by the CPH, Chief Parrothead, called "Trying To Reason With The Hurricane Season." As COVID-19 continues to ravage our country and many parts of the world, someone really needs to tell Mother Nature to give us a break. Hurricanes during this particular phase of humanity are simply overkill. On the bright side, there is that element of forecasting that can help make it easier to board things up, but getting out of the way is not as simple as packing up the car with your photo albums and your dog and heading for high ground. 

It's not hurricanes or twisters that we have to worry about out here in California. It's fire season, and currently there are dozens of heat and lightning related fires burning across the state. Which normally would not slow us down much. They are all a part of our "new reality" brought on by climate change and exacerbated by budget cuts and no true reckoning on how to deal with these conflagrations. Now let's add to that the challenge of trying to house evacuees in a clever and safe way during a pandemic. It used to be you could just open up a gymnasium and ask folks to come and hunker down until the flames diminish. In a state still struggling to maintain social distancing and mingling social bubbles, the fire sounds more like the frying pan than, well, the fire. 

In the middle of one of these disasters, one of our first grade teachers gathered up her belongings and went in search of a place of safety. And a place where she could conduct her virtual classroom. As her family fled, her students and their families waited anxiously for news about their teacher. Managing a bunch of six year olds on a Zoom meeting would be a walk in the park by comparison. 

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I want to apologize for my previous remarks about Mother Nature. This isn't her fault. She had a pretty good system going, and then we decided to mess with it. 

And what a mess it is. 

2020. I won't miss it.