Starting 2020 with Hope in the midst of Chaos
It is hard to say ‘Happy' New Year when you know your country is burning. When lives have been lost, homes destroyed, livelihoods ruined and our natural flora and fauna catastrophically impacted.
Like many my glass of champagne on New Years Eve was bitter sweet, as I watched the media updates on the fires burning out of control across Australia - so many- but especially the unprecedented firestorm on the NSW south coast. This place is close to my heart. It is, for us Canberrans, our back yard. Our place of rest, recuperation and joy.
It is where my mum lives a usually quiet life. On New Years Eve though it became centre stage of an “Armageddon-Like” Reality show - the world looking on as Fire Tornados, Black and Red Fire Clouds and Roaring Fire Storms engulfed the usually sleepy holiday towns along the beautiful coastline. She spent New Years Eve in an evacuation shelter, like hundreds of other locals and holiday makers in Ulladulla with her little dog and too many people waiting anxiously to hear better news. Her workplace destroyed, but her home thankfully spared.
We also spent the evening monitoring friends and loved ones, checking in from their various holiday locations on the coast. Until telecommunications were finally cut.
We had a subdued evening and went to bed before midnight, my aching heart beating hard for all the RFS, the volunteers, emergency services, native animals and the effected communities. It will be a long road ahead. It also awakens us to the terror of what a future with a diminishing climate may bring. The unknown and volatile future as our planet warms and natural disasters become more violent and more frequent.
Today conditions are better but they will turn again quickly. The recovery and clean up will be difficult.
Today - this first day of the new decade, I woke before the sun, opened the sliding doors and breathed in the warm air with the chaser of wildfire smoke. Those who know me know I’m an optimist at heart... but it’s hard to find my usual optimism to wear today.
Scrolling the social media updates and communicating with my network across the region I eventually found some HOPE. I found it in the stories of the volunteers, those who risk their lives protecting others, the bravehearts. On Facebook it’s the pople collecting and donating for the RFS #slabforahero or the wildlife rescue shelters. It was in the stories from the staff at Mogo Zoo who miraculously saved all the animals which includes Australias largest collection of primates. It was in my kids who keep pointing at the clouds and watching for the rain. It Is in their generation who will grow to truely understand the planet is not ours for the taking but for nurtring and protecing.
On this first day of 2020, I am not wishing you a “Happy New Year but rather a ‘Hope-filled New Year' - because we all need it.
I Hope for safety.
I Hope for Resilience.
I hope for patience.
I Hope for recovery.
I Hope for Rain.
I Hope for national leadership that if filled with compassion, bravery, wisdom and constructive change.
May this first day of the new decade wake us all up!
We are all in this together. Amidst the chaos may we be brave enough to all do what we need to make this a HOPE-filled decade for those who are following us. May our hearts be filled with compassion. May our actions be positive and constructive and for good.
~Bec