Community.
Often that term brings up some form of romantic imagery from the past - a small farming or fishing village; Little House on the Prairie kind of thinking. But really, community is a state of being. It is what we make it; where we find ourselves. Community is where people come together with common interest. That could be in a town, a service club, around an issue or through a sporting group.
Yesterday, I saw how a vacation/recreation property is a community. A group of us went for a hike in East Sooke Park, just west of Victoria. It was a beautiful day and we sat on shore part way through the hike to watch the Swiftsure Sailboat race. Very exciting. Afterwards, we stopped down the road at a marina/RV park to have a drink at the Smoking Tuna Cafe. Sitting on the patio enjoying the view and the company, my daughter pointed behind the cafe and asked what that smoke was from. It certainly didn't look like campfire smoke. And it wasn't.
The RV's at this place are not the kind that come and go. They are typically left there and people add on decks, rooms and cute little yards. In fact, my former spouse and I had a trailer there many years ago. It's a sweet little slice of heaven. The kids and others ran around the side of the cafe and started yelling to call 911. One of these little places was very quickly becoming fully invlolved in flames.
Everyone that was at thier trailers this weekend were running to help. I heard someone call for a first aid kit. I dug into my trunk to get mine. I went wandering around to try and find where it might be needed but couldn't locate anyone. I have to admit that I didn't look really hard. I could see my daugheter was extrememly distraught by the scene and I felt much more concern for her and my son than anyone else. I kept looking around and seeing that there were so many people pitching in to help; this community was really coming together to address the emrgency that was developing.
My friend Nathaniel was in there like a dirty shirt. I saw him pitching water and, later, helping with one of the victims while the paramedics worked. I went back to the water where the kids were waiting. They all looked in shock. I took them back to the deck of the cafe and settled them back down at the tables - by this time the cafe had closed down but seemed happy to have the kids sit there.
I went back up and by this time the fire trucks had arrived and put out the flames. It was burned to the ground. I went around the other side and found the paramedics working on the elderly man that was pulled from the fire by one of the community heros. He was hurt but appeared ok. Nathaniel was helping there. I helped the mans wife that was unhurt but panicking quite severely. She had someone from the community comforting her and I helped with the oxygen mask.
It was an incredible community effort. Both neighbouring RV's were spared through thier efforts, cars were dragged from danger and, most importantly, lives were saved! The professionals showed up in time to tie things up.
I was very impressed.
For pictures, go to Nathaniel's blog: www.loosemoorings.org
