Survival?

My daughter and friends were some of the survivors of this weekend’s tragic art workspace warehouse fire in Oakland.

I find myself asking what was the difference for these “lucky” ones and for those who died.  What really destined who was in each?  Was it luck?  Or maybe sheer randomness?  “The hand of God?” Or “guardian angels?”  The life force?  Grace?  Or maybe it  was just not “their time?”  And yet for those who died, was it theirs?…Really?

Who or what determines any of this?  Does anyone or anything?  Are there really any “causes” or certainty?

There are many strong but disparate feelings…love for the artists, the victims, and sadness for their families…anger this happened and at the building owners, at city and fire inspectors, at firemen who could not save the victims…guilt and shame of those who survived, that they could not help their endangered peers…so much sadness and tears.

Ultimately survivors, all of us, need to absorb this sadness and sense of tragedy and move on… to celebrate the works and spirits of those who did not make it, to mourn their loss and to learn whatever we can about having fun and yet being safe, about life’s preciousness and fragility… and about love and compassion, tears and laughter in our efforts to make sense of this shocking tragedy that defies reason and explanation.

We may need to give our reason a rest–our insatiable monkey mind may need soothing.

For me at least it is bittersweet.  I feel like celebrating my daughter and friends escaping this close call with death, and yet I am so sad, angry, and bewildered at the loss of those who did not, and for their families.

To those who did not survive and their families, may we all send compassion and love and our deepest condolences.  That may be a beginning, at least for me, in somehow making “sense” of this.

If you want to donate to support the surviving victims the Ghost Ship Oakland fire…

https://www.youcaring.com/firevictimsofoaklandfiredec232016-706684