After making some progress battling wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in the Los Angeles area, firefighters are preparing for a return of dangerous winds that could again stoke the flames.

Follow live updates. https://t.co/LFRXqPtgEG

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 13, 2025

*Editor’s Note: Elephant Journal articles represent the personal views of the authors, and can not possibly reflect Elephant Journal as a whole. Disagree with an Op-Ed or opinion? We’re happy to share your experience here.

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“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”

~ Robert Frost

~

Today, the west coast is burning and the east coast is covered in ice.

Are we talking climate change here or politics?

Science or conspiracy theory?

Or is it simply a metaphor for passion and destruction?

Is it fodder for politicians to lay blame on anyone but themselves?

Or more of a spiritual cleansing?

Whatever dialogue you want to have on the current weather traumas, the fact is real people and real animals are dying, losing their homes, and their inherent right to a sense of safety.

Now is not the time to place the blame or argue about the legitimacy of it all.

Now is the time to show up, to offer shelter, basic needs, compassion, a soft place to land, an open heart.

We get so caught up in the division of left and right, right and wrong.

Are you a conservative? A liberal?

A Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew?

Black or White?

Carnivorous or Vegan?

Today, let’s just be human.

Let’s share what we have with those that have nothing. Let’s mourn together for the losses and make real plans to rebuild.

Let’s hold each other, share a meal, and stories and memories of those places that are gone.

Let’s pull each other up and remember our connected humanity.

I am sitting here just outside a mandatory evacuation zone in Los Angeles. My family, which includes three dogs, two grandsons, two parents, and me, the grandma, could be instructed to leave at any minute.

But in this moment we are safe. We are grieving for our friends and classmates and co-workers who have lost everything.

We are looking for ways to be of service to them and others.

We are learning that all we have is this moment and we are grateful that we can spend this precarious moment together.

My desire to work harder to fight climate change is on fire as the environment around me burns.

My determination to do my part, no matter how small, to wake up every one to the connectedness of us all and how important it is that we come together in this moment and save ourselves will not be deterred.

I will not allow my personal fire to destroy nor will I allow others’ failure to see and act to throw ice on my good intentions.

We have a hard road ahead of us, but if we remember who we truly are and come together at this exact moment and do what must be done then there is hope for all of us.

Fire and ice—will it serve us or destroy us?

Let’s decide together.

~