Publisher’s Notebook

• No Holiday from Santa Anas •

ANNE SOBLE

Gratitude benefits the giver and the receiver alike. Its expression is a reflection of our connectedness to those who are most meaningful to us, as well as a way to acknowledge those who affect our lives, even if we don’t know them personally and relate to them only in the abstract.
It’s become the norm that Malibuites will spend Thanksgiving on wildfire alert whenever Santa Ana winds are blowing. The National Weather Service says this week’s winds are moderate—in the 20-30 mph range, about a third of what ripped the community’s midsection asunder in 2007—but the uneasiness in palpable. Local Smokey Bear signs say fire danger is “very high.”
The Los Angeles County Fire Department has extra crews and equipment on duty in Malibu. Five additional patrols and two water tenders are on site; a helicopter is at Camp 8 during the day; and the rest of the fire department’s helicopter fleet, the two SuperScoopers and an Erickson Air Crane helitanker, are all on standby. Firefighting personnel know that their holiday plans can be interrupted on a moment’s notice if there is a call to action.
It rarely takes very long for this same sense of heightened alert during Santa Ana winds to be hardwired into a Malibu resident’s circuitry. But this wildfire readiness syndrome in no way detracts from the joy of the Thanksgiving holiday and the sense of gratitude we have for the bounty that is our good fortune. Indeed, it enhances them.
The first Thanksgiving was about gratitude for triumphing over adversity. Residents still recovering from the fire ravages of 2007 understand that well. As Malibuites give thanks in 2009, they should acknowledge the role that nature plays in their lives, even when it calls for them to face adversity.