84 days since the Camp Fire, signs of warmheartedness still abound. This is not to say that we're fine. Scores of hearts and lives are broken beyond repair. The fallout is without end.
Yet strength, unity, and resilience continue to pervade. It's a beautiful thing! The most unsung of heroes are our youngsters.
I visit a local elementary school weekly, for work. That one school has seamlessly integrated a former Paradise elementary school. And I mean, seamlessly. 2 schools in 1! With almost no time to prepare for the expansion, the kids and staff readily posted murals and artistic creations to warmly welcome their new peers. When I'm there, I see smiling faces in all directions. There's no indication to me that any of the children are doing an "us" versus "them" thing that we adults so regularly devolve into.
While I was playing tetherball today, a girl approached to say "I'm in first grade." I believe her point was that she's in first grade and nearly my height. But she was too polite to expand on the sentiment.
Other kids who noticed my lack of tetherball savvy suggested that I hit the ball harder. (I tried. I really did. I still lost, 15 games to 0 games.)
By the way, did you know that a "cheap shot" amounts to one's opponent hitting the other's body with the ball, the result of which is that the person hit by the ball is out!? Perhaps dodge-ball is a less vicious option.
Excuse me, while I leave to ice on my rope burns.
Be well, my friends.
"There are heroes all around us doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways."
