Burns

I am a Pacific North westerner, and as such, it is that time of year where the entire land has been on fire for months, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. Fire is a real danger here. The interesting thing about it is how little humans have adapted to cope with this very real and expected phenomenon. We expect firefighters to be able to contain it. Every year when we turn on the news and read about destroyed houses, we don't immediately make sure our home has fire insurance. Somehow this yearly phenomenon is never expected to affect us.

Wild animals cope with fire. They've evolved mechanisms to deal with it, and while they don't operate under the assumption that it will happen to them, just as humans do, they have very good instincts on how to handle it, just as we don't. Animals without the capacity to outrun the fire burrow beneath the earth to escape the heat. Animals with the capacity to run do just that. That's not to say they all survive, however, and please do not think I'm arguing humans be more like animals in their ability to leave everything and run.

I am merely observing that in the case of a wildfire, we the human species have made it extremely difficult to pick up and run. To drop everything and get out. Because from an evolutionary standpoint, that is the only intelligent thing to do. But we, the most intelligent species, have built very stationary shelters, and filled them with things that matter to us emotionally and culturally (such as photos and trinkets), which in turn make us hesitate to preserve ourselves biologically.

Our first priority should be to live, and, if possible, ensure the lives of others. After that, time permitting, we should think of our pets, and then, only then think of inanimate objects.