Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez
Jose Macarena Hernandez
Abdon Felix
Our state is on fire. I don’t just mean that literally – although – literally it is. Not only are there a bobillion acres that have burned or are in the very business of burning right this second, but the heat is just oppressive. I whine and flop around, pulling my sweaty hair up off my neck whilst checking the thermostat and bumping up the AC another notch. A skunk has expired under our deck which just adds to the overall ambiance of the heat and smoke and unusual humidity. The lovely wafting breezes of a rotting animal right under the kitchen windows.
It looks like a foggy, winter morning until you open the door and feel the heat and smell the smoke. The sun is a strange orange ball in a darkened sky. The cat has taken to sleeping in the cool, porcelain bowl of the hall bathroom sink, for whatever slight relief it brings.
The names above are those of people that have died this Summer. In the heat. Not poor, shut-in elderly folks that we read about each and every year – with admonitions to check on our neighbors. Which we all should do. Not small children, left in a car while mommy runs in, for just a minute, to have a quick drink at a local bar. Good lord does anyone not know this is colossally stupid thing to do?
They are a 17 year old girl. A 64 year old man. A 42 year old father of three. Abdon spent his last day loading grapes onto a truck. Maria Isabel was pruning vines, without access to water or shade, when most girls her age should be picking out which bathing suit they are going to wear to the beach. The next butternut squash you eat may have been in the work calloused hands of Jose on his last day on this earth.
We are so very quick to point fingers at China, poisoning our dogs with tainted pet food or Kathy Lee Gifford for failing to notice that the clothes with her name on them are manufactured in foreign sweatshops by eight year olds. Yet we don’t give a second thought to who’s toil, who’s sweat has graced our evening meal.
This is not a political diatribe. I have no agenda. Or any answers. Not a single one. Just an overwhelming sense of grief that this can happen under our very noses. Who hasn’t left the television or radio on for a dog that is going to be left alone for the day. Or turned the air conditioning on when we run out to the store so the cat is comfy and the house nice and cool when we get home.
We are compassionate people. We want to do what’s right. We take our green approved grocery sacks with us when we do our shopping, we filter our tap water and refill our thermoses so as not to add more plastic water bottles to the landfill. For crying out loud if you walk down Main Street in Los Altos you will see every other store has a dish of water out for the canine pedestrians (quadrupedestrians?).
Yet our farm workers – IN THIS DAY AND AGE – don’t have ample water on a 110 degree day?
How can we know what grocery stores, what growers to buy from? What wine to drink. How can we send a message that this cannot and will not be tolerated?
I am totally enamored with local eating. Getting to know who grew my lunch. Yet I’m ashamed to say that I’m equally enamored with running into my local Uber-Mart to grab the makings for a dinner without a second thought of how or where it came from. I know for me personally I just need to slow down. Plan ahead. Be deliberate. Be considerate. But is that enough?
No one, no one, should die, trying to get my dinner on the table.
There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed. -Samuel Johnson (1709-1784
Good post!! Very thought provoking!I hear you, we don’t think about where or how our food gets to the store. Even more sad, is that we don’t hear about these kind of important things on the evening news(which I have stopped watching). One could think that the only thing we have to worry about is what the presidential candiates are saying about each other and blah, blah, on it goes…oops, sorry, I’m starting to rant.
Great post ! Funny how most people only think of themselves and their own lives and nobody else. It’s a shame that there are so many people in the world that are that way! Sorry to hear about the skunk…yuck!
What a thoughtful post Andrea. You are so right, it is shocking that anyone should die under such preventable circumstances. We all need to think a bit harder about what it takes to get our food on the table. Maybe if we all had to spend a summer eating what we grew on our own we would get the picture.
Very well put Andrea. I know I needed the reminder to remember. Thank you and hang in there. Clarice
Excellent and I couldn’t agree more. We’re blind to what happens in our own country I think.
Beautifully said Andrea! You have a lovely, tender heart…
Totally agree. It’s so easy to ignore (and unintentionally contribute to) what’s happening on our own doorstep. I want to follow your lead and start to really understand how the way I live my life impacts on the lives of others, however indirectly.
I am thinking twice and three times and more about what we eat and more. I was diagnosed July before last with third stage lung cancer. Me…of all people,who doesn’t smoke…husband doesn’t smoke..zero smoke environment.None of us are safe,with all the pollutants in our midst. We just need to eat as heathy as we can,and avoid contanements when we can. Oh yeah…dont smoke!
I hear you and I appreciate your thoughts. It’s truly humbling to stop and think how many people have sweated and toiled and even died for the lifestyle we few fortunate ones get to live.
Bravo! Eloquent, timely, passionate. Thank you for writing…you reminded me to THINK. Keep thinking of more great adjectives to describe your wonderful post – I’ll stop now but know that I’m really bubbling over with thoughts and this post will stay with me all day. ~lee
Excellent post.
A few weeks ago, I read The Tortilla Curtain. I forget the author’s name. It’s about the “illegal” population around Los Angeles (and one family in particular. It’s heartbreaking. Thank you for writing this, Andrea. I can tell it comes from a kind and compassionate heart.
As a small farmer in the Northeast, I agree. My husband and I work full time day jobs and then at night and weekends work to bring beef, eggs and veggies to the market. But we love our lives and would not change a thing. We visited California and Oregon earlier this month our “vacation of a lifetime”. My heart goes out to all of you on the west coast that have to deal with these fires and the aftermath. I did cry for the destruction I saw around me. The veil of smoke and the smell of burned wood and grasses was hard just for the few days we were there, I cant imagine everday dealing with it. On a lighter note I couldn’t stop reading your blog and had to go back to the older posts, you are to funny for words. Thanks
I came here via Take Joy. Thanks for this post. Being conscious about what we eat is a huge step towards justice, even when we don’t have all the answers. You can also visit ufw.org where you can take action about these deaths.
Peace be with you.
Beautifully Written Post with such an important message. It should be published in a magazine or something.