TR EMERITUS

But from some spark comes wildfire. And when that sweeps through Hollywood hills fanned by the propulsive force of the coastal winds, tens of thousands are left homeless. The numbers since Jan 7 is more than 100,000.00. And at least five people have died.

This is Los Angeles’ worst wildfire. And to add fuel to the flame, the region has not seen rainfalls for a few months. It reports that “a crescent of flame squeezed Los Angeles in a huge pincer visible from space.”

The firefighters have been stretched to the max. They are exhausted. Water shortages have caused some fire hydrants to run dry.

“We pushed the system to the extreme. We’re fighting a wildfire with urban water system,” said Ms Janisse Quinones, chief executive of LA department of Water and Power.

Hundreds of people have escaped the engulfing flame and were hunkered down at Pasadena Convention Centre, “some sleeping under Red Cross blankets, others nursing wounds in wheelchairs as volunteers handed out water and bananas.”

Lesson?

This is one Goliath that David will always come up short. It’s much bigger than us, and it’s bigger still due to the contribution of climate change.

Though not the direct cause, climate change “does increase the amount and size of natural areas that are fire-prone.” As LA’s chief executive of water and power said, “we are fighting a wildfire with urban water system.”

If there is any five stones of lesson the Davids like us can learn from this sweeping wildfire, maybe they are as follows: -

1st stone - it is the stone of political will. I don’t need to tell you this, but the world is still not paying enough attention, and temperatures have been rising as a result. Every effect has a cause. We are the cause. Will we come to our senses?

I put this as the first stone because we are the author of our fate, and we have been releasing the stones at Goliath for decades and still missing the target.

2nd stone - it is the stone of unity. We have to work together. We are in this together. Rich or poor, there is no way out unless we befriend Elon Musk and book a capsule to colonize Mars. But out of 8 billion or more, only a handful can book that flight (if ever possible). The rest of us, well, earth is our only hope, or our kids’ only hope. Earth is our collective destiny.

3rd stone - it is the stone of hope. Do we have it? We have stood high up in the food chain, conquered the highest peak of human achievements. But this is the one challenge we are currently stumped.

Where are we hurling our hope at? We may have hit many targets, but if we miss this one, all our brilliant achievements will end up in a blazing heap. LA wildfire is in fact a microcosm of where we are heading towards, right?

4th stone - it is the stone of family. I am moving away from the bigger picture to the timeless picture.
Billy Crystal, who is one of the many victims, said: “We are heartbroken, of course, but with the love of children and friends, we will get through this.”

His Pacific Palisades home where they have lived since 1979 had been destroyed. But he is right, it’s about family. In the larger scheme of things, family is all we have. Take time to spend more time with them, before time numbs us into an ageing stupor, beckoning our end.

And finally,

5th stone - it is the stone of overcoming. We have done it before, can we do it now?
James Woods, another victim, recounted fleeing from the flame. He said: “One day you’re swimming in the pool, and the next day it’s all gone.”

He wept when he saw his niece who “came out with her little Yetti piggy bank for us to rebuild our house.”

In that little Yetti piggy bank is the hope of our children, and our children’s children. Mother Earth is groaning and we - her offspring - have still not turned from our destructive ways.

We can’t afford to keep missing the target. Let’s pray that good sense for common humanity will ultimately prevail.

For whatever the circumstances, history has shown that we are overcomers. We have even bent the will of nature to our collective will; at times, for the good of mankind, on the trail started by the Prometheus flame, and at other times, for an outcome that is much more dark and ominous.

Alas, the greatest challenge is still ourselves. Can we overcome ourselves then?

Michael Han