Astonishing cataclysmic events happen around the world so regularly - but so far from our doorsteps - that Canadians often feel insulated and immune. Fort McMurray’s extraordinary disaster should change that.
In this case, the tragedy feels so personal - and cuts so deep - that it should demand that we all examine our specific reaction and weigh it against our broader commitment to social responsibility.
Certainly, Canadians are among the most generous of nationalities when disaster befalls those elsewhere in the world. We send money and our experts and supplies, and lend our knowledge in the wake of tragedy.
In general, we are a wealthy and fortunate nation, and we are willing to share from that base of social and material prosperity.
But no outpouring of support in the face of disaster has come close to the response of average Canadians to the Fort McMurray wildfire - $60 million and counting, plus untold gestures of kindness and unaudited instances of donation. And that doesn’t include the massive government funding already underway.
But the donations are not nearly what they could be. We can, and should, always strive to be better as a society.
If anything positive can come from such destruction and heartache, such trauma and uncertainty, it should be that our level of empathy is heightened like never before.
In instances like this, when 88,000 people have been displaced by a horrendous wildfire, and more than 2,400 buildings have been lost, the price of citizenship required of the rest of us seems easy to pay.
But the contract we all mustmake with humanity should be easy to honour all the time, not just when the devastation is on our doorstep, not just when those who are dislocated are our friends and neighbours.
Why is it not always so?
Certainly, there are many among us who react with great generosity when tragedy strikes. The examples are too plentiful, from Haiti to Nepal to New Orleans and beyond, year after year, decade after decade. The world often seems like a natural powder keg - at any moment, harbouring a cyclone, earthquake, mudslide, tornado, tsunami or blizzard.
And we have seen it before in Alberta, all too recently.
The floods of 2013 devastated Calgary, Canmore, High River and other communities. More than $9 million in donations poured in for the 100,000 people displaced in theregion. Five people died as a result of the floods, which did more than $6 billion in damage. That damage is still being repaired, and the conversation about how to prevent a similar tragedy in the future continues today.
The Slave Lake wildfire displaced 7,000 people in 2011, and did $750 million in damage. And it heightened our awareness of the sudden, indiscriminate power of fire to leap from forest to settlement in a random gust of wind.
In each instance, lives have been changed forever. These events are not just about loss of property, and the necessary effort to rebuild homes and businesses, and re-establish infrastructure.
They are also about rebuilding lives, restoring confidence and managing the lingering fears.
Which means we can and must reach out to the people of Fort McMurray in a variety of ways.
Certainly not every Albertan has a great deal of money to give on a moment’s notice, particularly now in the midst of an economic cooling. Many Albertans are without work or fear the loss of a job at any time.
If you haven’t donated and you can, why haven’t you? Gestures large and small matter.
And if you can’t give money, give your time - it may be just as valuable as your money, and maybe more. Volunteer to help a fundraising effort, to cook meals or house a displaced family. Join an organization that does community outreach for those from Fort McMurray.
Talk to your children about giving and why it matters, and set a clear example through your own acts of generosity and caring.
It will be a long time before Fort McMurray and its citizens can settle back into the normal, secure rhythm of life. There is much work to be done to simply make the community safe to return. Then years of reconstruction will follow, for those willing to return.
For the community, and its people, the scars are deep and the healing will be long and arduous.
Each of us can and should play a significant role in helping that healing.
Troy Media columnist John Stewart is a born and bred Albertan who doesn’t drill for oil, ranch or drive a pickup truck - although all of those things have played a role in his past. John is also included in Troy Media’s Unlimited Access subscription plan.
John Stewart, Columnist Troy Media
© 2016 Distributed by Troy Media
