A Sprinkling of Mercy
In Anne Lamott’s book Stitches, she tells a story that I love on so many levels. You may remember it from the news. In 1995 a coastal town twenty miles away from Lamott’s home experienced a devastating wildfire. It’s a small village, 1,500 people give or take. Some teenagers had camped out overnight, illegally, built a campfire and buried it before they left to return home. They did everything they knew to do to prevent a forest fire. But their efforts were inadequate. The fire destroyed 12,000 acres of wilderness and according to Lamott, almost 50 homes. Think about this. Fifty homes for a town of 1,500 people. The town was saved but the lost wildlife were incalculably tragic.
The boys immediately turned themselves in. The families were so distraught they considered moving away.
Until this miraculous, CENTRAL ISSUE was addressed. A firefighter wrote a letter to the local newspaper and reported how carefully the boys had worked to extinguish their fire. His willingness to lead with kindness inspired others. Soon stories were told by other adults - they confessed their worst mistakes. Vulnerability and mercy rained down with at least as much power as those burning embers and the water that sushed them.
Eventually the town had a picnic to honor the heroes. Towards the end of a speech, the president of the board of firefighters took kindness and added in a big dose of grace and mercy. He talked about how in ancient times, people who hurt a village would be shunned. He told the town that he hoped everyone would make it clear to these four embarrassed and ashamed families that they should not move away. A big mistake was made, but the boys were still wanted. Their families were still needed in this community to make it strong.
The town agreed. The people most hurt by the fire came up to the speaker and voiced their blessing on his plan. The San Francisco Chronicle published a letter, a portion of wish Lamott quotes (p.110), “So what seems to me to be happening is that this community, which has just fought so stubbornly to save itself from a holocaust, has turned, almost without missing a beat, to try to save the future of four young men.”
I hope it worked. And I hope we will continue to do our work to be the kind of people who participate in healing, not hurting, to the best of our ability, with plenty of mercy and grace sprinkled over all of us imperfectly perfect humans.
