Last Tuesday evening a group of us gathered in the gym of our small, rural K-12 school to learn about suicide prevention. Suicide isn’t an us-or-them issue, it’s an everyone issue. Suicide prevention is up to all of us, and is an issue that can best be addressed by working together. Kind of like our country and the issues we collectively face are best addressed by working together.
The evening started with a shared meal, people eating and chatting around cafeteria tables. We were a diverse bunch, from ranchers to postal workers, grandparents to young parents, cowboys to construction workers, teachers to students. All inhabitants of our beautiful, rural valley, in a time of political upheaval we had come together motivated by a common concern, a desire to learn about a common threat, and a readiness to protect the well-being of someone in need.
Over the course of an hour-and-a-half, we heard from a passionate, knowledgeable retired Army veteran. She presented the risk factors and how to mitigate them, the support factors and how to strengthen them, and the warning signs.What to watch for, what to say, and what to do to help someone considering killing themselves due to circumstances that feel beyond their control.
By the time we were done, strangers had become neighbors, and everyone felt better equipped to handle a situation we hoped never to face. We’d come together around a common concern, left with new information and what felt like a collective desire to work together for our common good.
Last Saturday morning a group of us gathered together at our home for a Fire Adapted Community demonstration, provided by Mt Adams Resource Stewards. Every place on earth has its own homegrown hazard. Ours is wildfire. It’s not an us-or-them hazard, it’s an everyone hazard, and is a threat that can best be addressed by working together. Kind of like our country and the threats we collectively face are best addressed by working together.
It started as any morning gathering should. Good coffee and homemade cookies. We were a diverse bunch, from youngsters to elders, working folk to retired ones, loggers to therapists, longtime residents to newbies to the valley. All inhabitants of our beautiful rural valley, in a time of political upheaval we had come together motivated by a common concern, a desire to learn about a common threat, and a readiness to protect the common ground we all call home.
After introductions and a bit of context set by our speaker, we walked together around our house to learn how to create a defensible barrier around our homes. Think of that barrier like a set of concentric circles, and like most things, you start close in. As in the first five feet around a structure. Houses typically catch on fire when embers from a wildfire land on combustible fuel close to or even touching the house. We heard about how to reduce the risks by reducing fuel and addressing any easy access points that would allow an ember to become a flame. People asked questions, took notes, and everyone hung together as we continued through the morning. We learned how to create a larger fire resistant barrier by removing trees and easily flammable vegetation within 30 feet of the house, maintaining a well-irrigated lawn or green space, and limbing up branches at least 10 feet.
By the time we were done, strangers and became neighbors, and everyone felt better equipped to handle a situation we hoped never to face. We’d come together around a common threat, left with new information and what felt like a collective desire to work together for our common good.
The problems, issues, and threats facing our country are real, and they are not us-or-them problems, issues, and threats. They are everyone problems, issues, and threats, and can best be addressed by working together. But nothing about the whole deal is simple. Every problem, issue, and threat is so complex and messy and scary and confusing and overwhelming and infuriating and devastating and a whole host of other things, that it’s hard to know where to start.
Maybe, like most things, we start close in.
Maybe the place to start is with shared meals around school cafeteria tables.
Maybe the place to start is with good coffee and homemade cookies.
Will these solve the problems? No. But they might, just might, get us started moving in the right direction.
