Over 180 people are dead, entire towns destroyed. The loss of property, life and love is an enormous burden. Words fail me.
180+ people are dead. Entire families are gone. Now stop and think about that for a second. Words on a page cannot express the horror of those two sentences. Look at your family, look at your loved ones, at your friends and imagine that in less than 5 minutes they are gone. Imagine that they are not simply gone but die amongst immense heat and fire. It is too tragic to comprehend.
My heart bleeds for the families left to mourn. My heart bleeds for the Triple 0 operators who had to listen to people begging for help as they were dying. My heart bleeds for the people who said that the night after the fire, all they could hear were the native animals screaming in pain. It conjures images I don't want to face. And yet, this is my country and I will face it.
Nothing will stop this fire except for rain. It burns on, threatening to converge into a massive fire storm again. And yet, left behind, there is a different shower for the victims. An outpouring of love, compassion and empathy has rained down on the survivors. We are Australian, this is what we do...and I am bloody proud. To date, the country has rallied and raised over $40 million dollars. Trucks full of clothes, food, toiletries, shoes, toys and general household goods have been donated.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thankyou. Thankyou to the little girl who donated $55 out of her moneybox and from her Confirmation money. Thankyou to the woman who donated $20 000 from money left to her by a relative. Thankyou....
***
And our own personal "little death". After five years of fun, laughter, giddy highs and devastating lows our family business is closing down. I thought we had it made. I thought we had passed that magic milestone and it was hard work but not hard slog from hereon in. I was wrong. The economy crashed and took our business with it. We will be trading but from home. Ebay will become a family friend.
I'm sad, very sad. I just haven't shared it yet.
Cin
2 comments:
Oh my gosh Cin!!! I am so sorry. This post just breaks my heart from beginning to end.
I pray for the families and the devastation. My heart is aching for them.
I am so sorry about your business. Is there anything we can do? I know, I know.. I have no idea.. I'm just so sad for you.
Hugs from Cali. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
XOXO
Gen
Thankyou Gen, you brought tears to my eyes. It sounds so selfish as to how I have been affected by this tragedy but I know many people who have family in the fires, I know many who have lost property. Many in our cat fraternity have lost home, pets and family. It hurts so much.
Our business lasted alot longer than we thought and we are going to be trading from home. You can keep posting to your blog 'cause your Fourbies give me oodles of pleasure!
If I knew how to post personally, I would but I'm new to this blogger thing. I hope you see this post.
Cin
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