What Price?

Wow the California wild fires that are raging now in the Malibu down to San Diego areas are just frightening to watch on TV. Seeing that kind of total and mass destruction caused by fire in an age where we are so technologically advanced seems incomprehensible, and yet nature puts us in our place yet again. We are helpless to stop her, unable to control her, we can only get out of her way. Hubby kind of quipped about my wanting to move to California--it's always been a dream of mine. It's true but I'd like to live a little further north, in the LA area, and yet they've been hit too before. In fact the current devesatation isn't too far from LA, they're just lucky that the winds are blowing south and not north. I think everyone fears fire in their home. We all know what kind of destruction it can cause, and if you happen to be sleeping at the time, how likely it is that someone will perish in the flames... but until you see how wildly out of control it can get under the right circumstances, most people don't fear entire cities, towns, or parts of the state being destroyed by it. I really would like to move to California, but I'm not sure I'd ever have the gumption the guy on the news last night had. They showed a resident of the area who had refused to leave his home in spite of evacuation orders. He was all singed, his eyebrows half missing, his face reddened by the heat. He'd spent days hosing down his property to keep the flames surrounding his home at bay. Apparently it worked, but my goodness is he lucky. Smoke inhalation alone could have--should have--killed him. But, he got to keep his house. You kind of have to ask what price you're willing to pay to save some memories, and a roof.