While I was in Lincoln there was a terrible thunder and lightening storm that sparked a fire in the Yarnell area. It burned many homes and due to a wind shift, 19 Hot Shot firemen lost their lives. This was a tragedy to be sure becuase these men are the ones who hike miles to an area where they clear a line in an effort to stop a fire from going further. their jobs are risky but they are the elite of the fire fighting community. Our Granite Mountain Hotshots based in Prescott, were the 19 who lost their lives and that has left a litter of complaints, fund raisers, accusations and finger pointing, politicians arguing over what can or should be done versus what is not being done and the bottom line is that 13 of these Hot Shot firemen were not full time employees and there lies the problem. They are not eligible for payout by the city because they lost their lives working for the city due to being seasonal workers. A couple of the wives have been proactive and the news media has at times handled that badly. The politicians got into the fray and one in particular exhibited a very condescending attitude towards these ladies.......one of the ladies in particular. We are in an election process right now and his comments just may have lost the election for him...........but I doubt it because wierd things happen during election time.
All around town one can see evidence of grief and mourning for the loss of these men. There are shrines set up just about everywhere and they consist of many things. All the way from pieces of purple ribbon twisted in the same shape as the symbol for breast cancer and worn on lapels etc., purple tulle tied to fences, mail boxes, street lamps, and cars, to one large shrine consisting of tee shirts from fire fighters around the country, shovels, boots, hard hats, flags, crosses of all kinds and composition, flowers, stuffed toys, candles and notes of condolences from near and far. At first sight is was mind boggling to see it and commanded a reverent air about the area. Now, after many rainstorms and winds as well as blazing heat, the major shrine looks rather ratty and has become an eyesore rather than a place to command reverence.
There have been myriad fund raisers but no one knows what has happened to the money that has been raised to help the families of the hot shots. One hot shot did not die because he was moving their little truck to a different area and was not with his team and he has had many mental battles, according to the paper, over why he was spared and not dead like the others.
In the paper today a committee was featured that is supposed to be the distributor of the donated money. They say that the money is in a local bank and that they have been distributing funds as needed to the families, for immediate expenses, but the legal wrangling and the tax involvement is on going. There are still many more fund raisers planned and people are selling all sorts of things to raise funds - rubber bracelets with 'be strong' written on them, medallions cast with the logo of the Hot Shots on them, and the list seems endless. There is a metal permanent shrine consisting of 19 crosses that has been erected at the fire station where the Hot Shots were based.
We have a local newspaper that is not much more useful than to wrap fish , but it contains a parade of the social ills that have beset our community. Stories of knifings, shootings, beatings, political chicanery, and pointed/biased editorials. I suppose things have not changed much since the Old Testament times where we have stories of genocide, fratricide, homicide, infanticide, incest, spys, suicide, debauchery, corruption, lying, racism, laciviousness, cheating, stealing and hegemony, and that is not a complete list by any means.
So I guess that in order to live some semblance of 'observant life', we pick our way gingerly across this 'playing field' called mortality, and try to run between the raindrops.
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