Go ahead — imagine losing everything
What money can and can't fix
I can’t stop thinking about the fires in LA.
I try to imagine what it would be like to go through that. What material possessions would I take with me before evacuating a home I don’t know I’ll ever see again?
My passport, important documents, my laptop, then…what?
What exactly is lost when your home is destroyed?
Material possessions, yes. But also stability, a sense of grounding, community, history.
Nothing money can easily replace, no matter your means.
When I worked in national radio I talked to a woman who evacuated her home after Hurricane Harvey in Houston. She had three young children and her husband had a well-paying job as a lawyer.
During the hurricane, the flood waters unexpectedly entered their home on a hill. In the middle of the night, they packed up a few things and walked up to their neighbor’s home, further up that hill. The storm kept raging through the night and the flood waters kept rising.
In the immediate aftermath, their church community stepped in to help. They also had family to lean on—they moved into a family member’s basement several states away. And because they had the money, they almost immediately started rebuilding their home in Houston.
Community support? Check.
Resources to rebuild? Check.
A safe place to go and the means to get there? Check.
Hope that they will be stable again in the near future? Check.
But even with those conditions in their favor, there was the time in the interim.
Her husband stayed in Houston to start the rebuilding process while she and her kids stayed several states away, trying to settle them into their new, temporary life in their family members’ basement, far away from familiarity and friends and her spouse.
Needless to say, it was hard. And she felt like she had to keep it together for her kids.
I’ll never forget her telling me she strategically timed her crying so as to not upset them. She’d only do it in her minivan, in silence, while driving her kids around — they couldn’t see her tears from the backseat.
There’s no doubt that how easily people will be able to navigate and mitigate this disaster will depend on their wealth, community ties and resources.
The impact of these fires, while widely felt, is not going to affect everyone in the same way and I hope people are thinking about that as they make donations.
I hope this ongoing tragedy will prompt people who have ample means to give and give and give, and give in a way that honors the truth that this long-running tragedy won’t affect everyone equally.
I also hope it will prompt people to have compassion for everyone affected, even those with the means to remake their life from scratch.
Everyone in L.A., even those whose homes were spared, are grappling with a new, difficult reality, one that will remain long after the flames are finally, mercifully extinguished.
No money in the world protects you from that.
ETC.
Want to help fire victims? Here's what experts say does the most good and places seeking volunteers -LAist
What to pack in a “go” bag - NBC News
January 2025 California wildfires have been fueled by meteorological conditions strengthened by human-driven climate change - ClimateMeter
This money bias is ‘the biggest barrier to building wealth,’ says financial psychologist - CNBC
“Once you get above a certain level of wealth, you get no incremental happiness. So why on earth would you not go back to a tax policy of the 60s, 70s and 80s, where say above, pick a big number, 10 million, you actually pay more than 10 percent, maybe more than 20 percent, maybe more than 50 percent? Because the difference between $30,000 a year for a household and $50,000 a year is enormous to the well being of that household. Low income kids in low income households have higher resting blood pressure. But the difference between making 10 million a year and 15 million a year offers you no happiness.” - Scott Galloway on MSNBC/TikTok