By Meena ┃Posted: January 30, 2018

First, they came in small numbers: three, sometimes five boxes and packages, delivered at the same time at our doorstep. Then came the daily trips by the Amazon delivery van, truckloads of boxes and packages that were carted into our home. It was a sight that piqued the interest of neighbors and passers-by; as well as the curiosity of the delivery man, whom soon enough started to greet me like a long-lost friend!  Before you know it, my garage resembled a warehouse, with rows and rows of boxes, stacked high and threatening to fall on our head lest we even touch them!

As I watched the boxes piling up with the dizzying excitement of a kid with early Christmas gifts from Santa, my mind raced back to a week ago, when I woke up to the sky in the backyard spreading an angry red, like a nasty gash on a wound. As I stared at the enveloping red and the rising plumes of black smoke in disbelief, I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. My heart had accepted already what my mind fought with: the fire was too close to call.

To the sounds of the mandatory evacuation alarms on my phone, we gathered all of our belongings: important papers, documents and a few clothes we could lay our hands on. We stuffed them into bags and scrambled into the car, racing to... we didn’t quite know where. As we raced out of the now-empty streets, it felt eerie, like we were in a war zone; like we were characters in an alien movie that we might have watched several times on Netflix, only this was real.

Yet, here I am, back again in the comfort of my home, those few days gone like a flash. I felt grateful for being alive, and that our home and community was untouched by the fires. However, many of the people in the surrounding communities had not been so lucky. The fires in Northern and Southern California in the winter of 2018 were some of the worst yet, and caused unprecedented destruction. It claimed more than 85 lives in Butte County alone, and forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate statewide. The situation prompted a forced migration of people from their homes and communities, seeking a place untouched by the fires that appeared to consume everything in their way, unabated. The firefighters across the state fought valiantly for days on end, until the last embers died. The wildfires were particularly hard on the community of Thousand Oaks. Just a day before the fires broke out, there was a mass shooting at a neighborhood bar, claiming 12 lives.

I moved from Northern Virginia to Thousand Oaks over 6 years ago, and have been proud to call this beautiful city my home. The recent tragic events hit so close to home for me, both literally and figuratively speaking. As a volunteer for the International Association for Human Values (IAHV), an organization that has, over the years, provided trauma-relief assistance in many areas in the United States and around the world, I felt a strong desire to reach out to those impacted and help in this hour of need. Our local team of volunteers was enthusiastic and ready to take action!

Very soon, I realized that we were not alone! Help was pouring in from all quarters. Across the cities of California and, in fact, all over the United States, people opened their homes to strangers. Offers popped up across the social media and local newspapers to drop off food, clothing, medicine, and anything else that might be needed. Counseling and special therapy sessions were set up overnight. Kitchen centers and restaurants opened round the clock to serve food for the firefighters who worked tirelessly to put out the fires spreading across the state.

I reached out to other volunteer and non-profit organizations in the community, to see where the need was, so we could make a meaningful contribution. The response came almost immediately, in an email. Could we possibly collect 200 tote bags filled with new supplies of backpacks, writing tablets, blankets, coloring pencils, books, and toys? These bags of supplies were needed for kids who were in the shelter displaced by the fire and was to be delivered in a week’s time. The task on hand appeared to be daunting.

I reached out to our volunteers and to the community at large seeking support. As though guided by a mysterious, yet magnetic force, people from different walks of life came together to help. Our volunteers swung into action sending money and supplies. Neighbors, friends, and people I have never met in the community rang our doorbell to drop off their contribution. An army of people descended on our home to help with opening the mountains of boxes, sort out, and put the donations together.

As I watched them work together, I was amazed at how a simple act of service brought together people belonging to different age groups, cultures, and ethnicities with one common bond: the desire to help others in the community. In fact, I realized, there really was no “other”. It was as though we were limbs of one body, our minds, hearts and souls acting in complete synergy.  Amidst the devastation, both man-made and nature-made, amidst all the attention in the media in the recent years on how divided we are, arose a strong testimonial in this beautiful act of service that we are indeed one family, the family of Humanity. Time and again throughout history, we have seen this happen, be it the 9/11 disaster in New York or the natural destruction following Katrina in New Orleans, we have come together, keeping aside all our differences and acting in perfect union.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Peace Leader, Humanitarian, and Founder of IAHV and its sister organization the Art of Living Foundation, says, “Love is not an emotion, it is your very existence.” Love is our nature, the substance that we are all made of. Service, being the outer expression of love, is our nature, too! We can’t help but serve. Service is Love in action, and Love indeed moves the world!

If you would like to donate to Art of Living’s trauma relief fund, click here.

Meena is an Art of Living Teacher, avid reader, part-time writer, nature lover, daydreamer, and dancer rolled into one. She lives a life of fulfillment and purpose, dancing to the tunes of her heartbeat.