Solidarity in the face of adversity

As disaster strikes it becomes easy for public officials to drift towards being overly cautious. Public officials are both overly interested in being perceived to do the right thing as they are in being conscious of actually pursing wise policies.

During World War II, London suffered tremendously at the hands of a merciless Nazi Luftwaffe, blitzing the city with incendiary bombs which light up the night sky as if Guy Fawkes’ plot had been a success. Later in 1941 the English suffered a horrendous defeat during their first offensive onto the European Continent, when Dunkirk resulted in a catastrophic loss of 235 boats sunk in the English Channel and 11,000 British soldiers killed. The miracle of Dunkirk was the successful evacuation of 338,000 British and French troops on private and commercial vessels across the Channel. The term, “Spirit of Dunkirk” describes the solidarity of the British people in times of adversity.

Today, Coloradoans face their generation’s adversity with the greatest wildfire damage in history. Over 170,000 acres of forests have been burnt, claiming the lives of at least 5 civilians and destroying 600-plus homes.

These fires, coupled with a local economy still in recession, staggeringly high unemployment, and the worst drought conditions since 2002 pits hope against despair. As we are living in a time of austerity, the traditional expenditures become justified redundancies in the budget. The unthinkable expenses from the public purse seem to be reasoned line items of our government. The world seems a shady haze of blue.

Our generation has much to learn from history. During the darkest days of the blitz the British people did not cower in their bunkers, cancelling national celebratory events and fading into total despair. Instead, during the height of the Battle of Britain, the British people found a reprieve from the horrors of war to enjoy the bank holidays with public concerts in the park. Public celebratory events, even in the worst of times give the citizenry a belief in a better tomorrow.

It is too bad that the City of Delta, with three days until the celebration of America’s Independence has opted to cancel the traditional firework display at Confluence Park’s lake. It is respectable to show solace towards the victims of this grave and horrible fire season. None the less, a community needs a rallying event to show that there is a brighter tomorrow. Banning fireworks after a fire is like banning guns after a shooting – it doesn’t solve the problem. Our leaders need wisdom and not a “finger in the wind”. Today we need our rallying cry for independence and an identity of who we are as a peoples and not an oppressive government desiring to protect us from all the “what ifs” that exist in our time.