We get wildfires in Los Angeles. The malicious glow in the night as the wind whips flames hundreds of feet i the air. The ash and pieces of partially burned bark falling from the smoke plume too close to my house and car. We pack evacuation kits. The community effort to rally around those displaced by fires and those who come from all over the country to fight the fires. The decimation and apparent mercy within the burn zone. The firefighting helicopters dipping their booms into nearby lakes. Slurry bombers. The unbelievable spirit of those who lose everything yet return to rebuild.
A client flew me in his private jet recently, near Palm Beach Florida. The pilot came back and said if we looked out the left side of the plane, we’d get a show. Suddenly a rumble-crack-road shook our plane, the sky lit up, and just in front of us a rocket came up through the clouds…fire everywhere, immense flames engulfing the night sky. The rocket was so close that I felt fear and awe, captured in the moment. It was awesome.
Amazing does not always mean good (witness the power and destruction of fire), but an experience that exposes me to the brutal but bittersweet natural world, and then shows me human harnessing of such magic to further our goals, is deemed amazing in my mind. The world is an amazing place.