Devastated is how I felt watching and hearing the news of all the people who have lost their lives and homes and possessions. Devastated is what the countryside looks like ... just burnt earth and blackened trees. Tears of sorrow falling from my eyes for people I don't know but who did not deserve to die this way.
Angry is how I feel knowing that some of these fires have been started by arsonists, twisted people with a fetish for fire ... let them burn in hell I say.
Proud is how I feel seeing the Australian spirit rallying behind those that have lost so much.
Admiration is what I feel for those fire fighters, risking all to save others, and often losing their own in the process.
Respect is what I feel for those people who have to go through the rubble to find and identify the bodies.
Sadness is what I feel for those who were evacuated only to return to nothingness.
Hopelessness is how I feel, for I am so far away and there is little I can do except donate to Red Cross.
Empathy is what I have for those who go to bed tonight ... without someone in their lives - lost to fire ... without a home to return to ... with only the clothes on their back ... to those that continue to fight the fires without rest for days on end.
Hope is what I feel - hope that those that survived are uplifted by the thoughts and prayers of so many strangers who have watched in disbelief as these fires thundered through Victoria like a freight train from hell.
Love is what I send and may in some way it make its way across Australia and into the hearts of those that need it most.
I fully agree with all you have said. Nobody could have worded it better. I have friends who seem to have survived the fires in Kinglake West for which I am so thankful but still wait for confirmation they are O.K.
ReplyDeleteAs for arsonists and looters.......I too am a non-violent person and I don't like the feelings they arouse in me when I begin to think that no punishment would be too harsh for them.