My first news of the fire of Palisades came from a message in the WhatsApp group in my neighborhood. I learned from my neighbors in the king that a fire had broken in the hills, about the neighborhood where I grew up, where my parents still live in our family home on the edge of the Palisadas.
My own neighborhood of Del Rey was probably out of danger. However, as we all learned how fast the fire extended, the WhatsApp neighborhood became a mini resource center, sharing tips to stay safe and volunteers from the free rooms and Adus. A call for the storage of deep freezer available for breast milk of an evacuated with the offer was received after the offer. Everyone made space.
Meanwhile, I was sympathizing with friends of the preschool era while our parents fled from the palisades and the institutions that raised us in flames. The library, the grocery store, the cafeteria where I will always remember to park on the couch with my best friend arguing “1984” for hours, everything went. Was our synagogue okay? No one knew.
My parents evacuated my mother -in -law's house, friends scattered throughout Los Angeles. We all woke up to know that so many families, dear friends, had lost their homes, each news is a blow. Even the famous commercial district of the village in the city center was Ash.
The devastation that my community experienced also felt throughout Los Angeles County. Eaton's fire in Altadena burned tens of thousands of acres, including studies by artists, musical paradises and important sites of Black Angelnene Heritage. The Hurst fire that threatens Sylmar. Other fires splashed the map of Los Angeles throughout the week, stimulating evacuations and fear for West Hollywood and the West Valley.
The fire had already reached through the city, taking, at this time of publication, 28 lives and more than 16,000 structures. Meanwhile, despite the heroic fire fighting efforts, other government bodies sowed confusion. Our leaders have been playing a political game. The past decisions to shave fire prevention are coming to light. Even our emergency alert system failed, scaring all residents with a smartphone who received a Error -sent evacuation notification.
On the same day the fires broke out, the United States general surgeon, Vivek Murthy, launched a declaration of separation. The main doctor of the nation had spent its two terms interviewing Citizens throughout the country learning about what contributed and subtracted value from their mental and physical health. From his research a recipe emerged: a nation plagued with heart disease, diabetes, depression and an addiction crisis was, more than anything else, which needed community.
“The fracture of the community in the United States is promoting a deeper spiritual crisis that threatens our fundamental well -being,” Murthy wrote, asking for a radical change “in the way we build and prioritize the community.”
The witness of how Los Angeles community networks collected the slack of the institutions that failed us illustrated the urgency of Murthy's message. This recipe must be full.
The disaster leads the need of the community to a great relief, but it is crucial for daily health and well -being for life as well. Murthy explains that the “three pillars” of the community, relations, service and purpose) are scientifically proven that positively impact both life expectancy and satisfaction with life.
These pillars, says Murthy, can “significantly influence health results, including premature mortality, heart disease, depression and anxiety. The community also gives us strength and resistance when facing the great challenges and innumerable cuts of paper that leads to move around the world. “
But, as you see, these pillars have collapsed in recent years. A Increase in the amount of time that people need to pass at work It has meant Less civic participation and social interaction. Pandemia and social networks led to isolationWith the last sowing division As the discussions went from person to online. Fair 30Of % of people work volunteers and More than 60Of % Young people say they feel without direction.
The community is a cornerstone of both individual well -being and collective well -being in the best moments. Now, friends, neighbors and volunteers from the Los Angeles Army are demonstrating that the community is a powerful tonic in the worst of them.
The way to build the community through these three pillars will take both individual effort and government investment, Murthy explains. The deepening of relationships requires interactions that go beyond group chat and encourage empathic schools and workplaces. Providing service means the will to provide (and ask) to a neighbor to get help. Finding a purpose means access to education and resources that unlock the meaning in addition to a payment check. The basis for everything is the reinvestment in community infrastructure (detention) and social services that allow people to simply survive.
The community is a cornerstone of both Individual well -being and Collective well -being at best. Now, friends, neighbors and an army of Los Angeles volunteers They are demonstrating that the community is a powerful tonic in the worst of them.
After the fires extended through the Palisadas, we learned that, in some miracle in the style of Hanukkah, the Palisades synagogue of the Pacific of my family, Kehillat Israel, did not burn, even as the houses did in their block. In the next few days, Ki became a place of support, both practical and emotionally. I had both services in person in a space provided by a temple in the city and a Zoom web seminar. Local officials and disaster recovery experts gave specific advice and information, and clergy and congregants gave themselves time and space to sustain the pain of the other. Even the early childhood center found a temporary space for its Shabbat Shabbat group, Tot Shabbat, so that the younger members of the temple could still see and sing with their class while evacuating their homes. He has been clear that enduring pain with friends and strangers of a lifetime is the only real thing that we can hold on to the “strength and resistance” that Murthy speaks at a time like this.
ANGELENOS throughout the city have also supported themselves in search of support. The essential workers who have lost stable employment in the houses of Palisades and Altadena are finding new opportunities in the neighborhoods where residents share the names of those looking for work, as in the group chat of my neighborhood. TO GOFUNDME For organizations advocating essential workers, it has raised more than $ 90,000. For people looking for ways to help in person, every day, the Los Angeles mutual aid network updates a Google volunteer opportunities spreadsheet That has dozens, if not hundreds of spectators at all hours of day and night; Volunteer centers are so busy that they are rejecting people. The teenage organizers are Full of beauty supplies donations For other adolescents affected by fires. Real estate agents provide free house hunting services, free hair cuts for living workers, free restaurant meals and much more. Celebrities such as Beyoncé have given millions to relief and recovery efforts; The general public has Raised $ 50 million for those affected by fires only in Gofundme.
All these efforts are only possible because Angels decided to worry each other. The fires have shown that our city, a neighborhood mosaic, is also a collection of neighbors.
This overwhelming community response to a crisis may be helping to cushion the blow for some, to the extent that possible against catastrophic loss. But the community can not only be a reactive value. Nationally, consecrate the community as a civic value and a way of life should serve as a local bulwark against natural disaster and the largest political forces. On an individual level, searching for the community and inviting others, can guarantee support for the great challenges and “paper cuts.” Either to be part of an institution of faith, or participate or create a communication center such as a neighborhood chat. Local clubs and volunteer opportunities can help you link with your neighbors about common interests. In all these cases, the community is literally a lifeguard.
That is why fires have made it clear that building, investing and nurturing the community is important not only now, but always.
On Wednesday, January 8, one of Ki's rabbis, Rabbi Daniel SherHe recorded and published a video on Instagram after discovering that he had just lost his own home of Palisades:
“Our community we love so much is in disorder,” he said. “But I know we will take care of each other, we will communicate to each other and rebuild. Many of us are experiencing heartbreak. But when a community experiences anguish together, it means that we can also repair our hearts as a community. ”
As Murthy says, “a community -based community is a community that will remain.” It is that connection and compassion of humans to humans that will help us to resist the storm. Each text message that I sent and received impacted friends that I know since our Ki preschool days, some of which I have not even spoken in years, they held those words: I love you. Those ties, and those that we have seen and squeeze throughout the city, give me hope that when it comes to healing these fires, Los Angeles is ready to administer the cure of our former general surgeon.
