As the camera panned across the charred debris, the reporter rattled off the stats.
More than 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed. At least 25 people dead and 37 more still missing. More than sixty square miles of Los Angeles County burned to a crisp. Thousands of firefighters and first responders continue to battle the flames that started over a week ago.
Yet despite these astounding numbers, I couldn’t stop looking at the shelves behind the reporter. Only days ago, students and teachers walked the halls of this elementary school, laughing and talking and going about a regular day. Now all that remains of the school are the lunchboxes on those shelves, waiting for hungry kids to come off the playground.
How these lunchboxes survived when the rest of the building burned around them is a mystery. But it reminds us of the human story behind the headlines.
The media targets as wide an audience as possible in a limited amount of time. As a result, news crews routinely cover stories with a broad brush. The more attention they can attract to a story the better.
The media has a job to do, and we as viewers benefit by being informed. But those of us watching shouldn’t lose sight of what really matters – the people whose lives have been forever changed by this horrific event.
Both the sweeping aerial views and ground shots of devastation in California can feel very impersonal.
In the remains of a library, we don’t see the parents who brought their kids to story time once a week. In the ashes of a community center, we don’t see the teenagers who met up to play basketball after school or the area residents who voted on Election Day. In the ruins of a church, we don’t see the faithful who prayed and worshiped there every week.
And in what’s left of that elementary school, we don’t see the kids who picked out those SpongeBob and rocket lunch boxes to carry to school every day, or the moms and dads who packed them with juice boxes and Goldfish the day a wildfire ravaged the area.
When we only see the remnants of physical structures and still raging flames on a tree line, we can forget to have empathy for the people reeling in the wake of the tragedy. As we watch, even if we can’t see their faces, let’s remember the individuals behind the headlines. They need our help to rebuild their communities and come back from this ongoing crisis.
Click here to see where you can give depending on your interest and ability. As always, we do our best to pass along vetted information, but we urge you to only give to reputable and established organizations to ensure your resources go to those who need them most.
To all of you affected by the wildfires in California, our hearts are with you.
(Photo credit – Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
