smoky sunrise

Well, it's a little hard to believe, but Northern California is dealing with yet another major wildfire in 2020. Homes, wineries and resorts have all been lost or have suffered massive amounts of damage. It makes me really sad to see this happen to the region again. Now, I'm the type of person who, once the dust settles, tends to look for a silver lining, or a lesson of some sort. It's sometimes extremely difficult to see any good in this sort of thing, but if I had to come up with a takeaway, it would be this: at the end of the day, material possessions are meaningless. Sure, some of them may be symbolic and very difficult to lose, and you wouldn't necessary choose to give them away, but they could all go up in smoke tomorrow and be mostly, if not entirely, replaced. I've heard this sentiment from multiple people that have lost their homes, that when the flames are closing in on you, it's the people (and pets) that matter most, because they're the ones that cannot be replaced. Everything else is just... stuff.