I wrote about the fires in real-time last year for my upcoming book The Art of Creative Rebellion (publish date, January 21st, 2020) and how, at one point while we were packing, my wife and I had to look at each other and ask if we would be okay if we lost it all. And we agreed that as long as the three of us were unscathed, that we could rebuild our lives. I took (and continue to take) that as a lesson in being in the moment and being truly grateful for what we have, rather than always coveting what we don’t have and what we lack. The fires, for me, are metaphorically charged -- on one hand they herald the reality of climate change and our negligence to the veracity of scientific fact as we hew towards unthinking allegiance to political polemic and religious doctrine. This trend is unredeemable and destructive. On the other hand, what gives me hope, is that after the fire, mother nature has a spectacular ability to heal herself through regrowth. And humans are capable of the extraordinary if we allow ourselves to move beyond reactionary and fear-based motivations towards the strategic and passion-based mindset. Again, metaphorically speaking, if we burn down our own preconceptions and attachments, we can allow new growth to occur.