Do you see that there? Doesn’t look like much does it? That, my friends, is the triumph of life over adversity. A big burden for a tiny infant tree to bear on its shoulders, but it can do it. I have faith.
I have spoken about the fires last summer that raged through the Adelaide Hills and turned very close to our house. Too close. Much too close. And we were one of many, many lucky ones. So very many were not so lucky and it is so, so important that with each new crisis, Covid 19, Black Lives Matter, that we do not forget those who are still suffering from the one that came before, and the one that came before that, and the one that....well, you get what I am getting at.
I am an emergency resource volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. In my area we go in and help clear up the mess that the Cudlee Creek fires left behind. I don’t get along so very often, about once a month, but I do it because to me it is so, so important that these poor people, these poor darlings who were not so lucky, are not forgotten, that they know that they are still in our thoughts and our hearts.
What we do could be done by anyone, today we were cleaning up fallen burned limbs, fencing wire and burned out fence posts. It is not skilled work, anyone could do it, and I am going to go out on a limb here and say, we all should. It is the human touch that is so important. Yes, you could drag all your burned fence posts and raddled wire over there yourself, but by going along, lending a hand, we show, show, not tell, that one person, that one family, that one couple, one by one, that we give a shit.
It is like that old song by Glen Campbell, try a little kindness, just show a little kindness, shine your light for everyone to see.
I am not asking anyone to go out and do the grunt work, but every single one of us has the time and capacity to give a shit.
It is like that tiny, baby tree in the photo. From tiny, tiny shoots, a mighty mallee gum will grow. Go forth Cookie House People. Shine your light. Be a mallee.