A couple of Sundays after his surgery, I forced Carl into the car and took him for a ride to see Herriman, Utah, “post fire”. I’m mean. I’m nurse-like.
It was astonishing for a couple of reasons.
One was the closeness to homes the fire came along a miles-long line behind houses above Herriman for a very long, terrifying time. Few homes were destroyed and no lives were lost and no one was seriously harmed. That even included animals and there were lots of those in that area.
The other, more amazing thing, was the feeling I got was from the people and the neighborhood itself. It was the feeling that a real miracle had taken place. The people were walking through their neighborhood, looking happy and grateful. The neighborhood, beautiful and cared for, looked serene, safe, and loved, and felt very blessed.
All the way through the Book of Mormon it talks about how the Lord blesses people when they are righteous and stands back when they are not. It’s not usually about individuals but people as a group which is a very important point. The Lord wants us to care for each other. I got the feeling in Herriman that these people were good people, not just individuals, but as a group, who had been protected because they were good people who cared for each other and were grateful for all they had.
I did do one thing that my family hates and that is I stopped and talked to a guy that was working outside of his house with a bunch of Harleys and four-wheelers. I learned that his business is out of his house re-doing the leather in cars and motorcycles and the like and he didn’t leave when the fire came behind the houses across the street from him. He told me he figured he could out-run the fire himself if it came to his house, so he sat at his house drinking beer watching the fire while his neighbors put their kids into their vans and hauled out.
He said that one cop told him that if he didn’t evacuate his house, they’d come drag him out, but apparently their word wasn’t law so they didn’t come back.
The guy had a bunch of punching bags in his garage, and the police probably figured he could take care of himself anyway so they left him alone. I bet his neighbors love him a lot. I did in just the minutes I talked to him. And he was swept up in the safety of Herriman. What a great place to live.
http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story/Herriman-fire-destroys-homes-some-evacuations/yq_6ZdGHFEGVR9FwaQOJjg.cspx
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