The summer of 2020 featured more than a pandemic. Fires burned in wildlands and in our cities, with consequences that persist in 2021. However, just as nature recovers from flames, perhaps America is beginning to do so as well.

About a year ago, flames raced across Colorado. The fires included three of the largest in the state’s history and left massive scars on beautiful areas, such as Glenwood Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park. The fires also destroyed many homes.

Recent rains on the Colorado wildfire scars have created mudflows. Slow and mighty, the mud comes downhill like a bulldozer, gouging out new gullies and carrying huge debris, including boulders as big as cars and tree trunks.

These mudflows shut down Interstate 70 in Glenwood, a major east-west throughway for the state, necessitating detours that add hours for car and truck traffic. The mudflows have also reached the Colorado River, clogging its channel, and ending river rafting business. Tourism in Glenwood Springs and other points west has been harmed, as well.

During the same sad summer, fires set by anarchists burned in dozens of America’s cities destroying businesses and scarring communities.

Do you remember how many American cities Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa hit in 2020 after the death of George Floyd gave them a crisis to exploit in Minneapolis? Dozens. Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington, DC, and many smaller cities.

As a result, crime rates in cities across America have risen sharply, including homicide rates. This is because BLM demanded during the riots that police be defunded, and politicians obliged.

Also, BLM’s narrative that all police are bad continues to affect many communities. Treated badly in their communities, and by political leaders, police retired and/or resigned in large numbers. Political leaders are only now stating that more police are needed.

What is worse is that many police have been assaulted, ambushed, and murdered. Just this week, a police officer handling an ordinary traffic stop was killed and her partner injured. Ella French had just returned to work from maternity leave when she was shot. She leaves behind a two-month-old.

Another consequence of the city fires has been the negative economic impact. According to the Junior Economist of Chicago, it may take ten years for the communities to recover. The losses include falling property values, a thousand businesses burned, and thousands of jobs lost. In the end, the total estimated damage in Minneapolis was $500 million.

Businesses are having to accept other losses now too; looting is an acceptable mode of shopping in places like San Francisco. Maybe people became desensitized to it after watching so much looting take place in the cities where riots occurred.

Another consequence is that American society is more divided than ever along racial lines. Because the anarchists want to divide and conquer Americans with race, instead of with class, everything is race and race is everything.

However, just as nature ensures that Colorado’s beauty will recover following the fires, it appears that, across America, people seem to be sick of all the race-baiting. Like tender green shoots in fire-scarred landscapes, they’re waking up and standing up.

For example, a ridiculous misunderstanding occurred at a Colorado Rockies game. An older white fan was accused of yelling the ‘N’ word at a black player from another team. The media and social media reported that. Everyone was outraged until, after an investigation, the Colorado Rockies put out a statement. They said that the fan was yelling “Dinger” to get the attention of the team mascot, a purple stegosaurus, for a photo.

At the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, those who want to divide us by race thought they had a world forum, but their actions became a show they didn’t intend. There were significant numbers of black and white liberal athletes willing to push forward the narrative that America is a terrible racist country and always has been. However, the athletes that kneeled to disrespect the national anthem lost most of their matches. More importantly, a majority of USA athletes honored and loved their country and wore their flag proudly. These athletes won.

Parents are also starting to stand up against critical race theory (CRT) being taught to their children. They’re speaking out at school board meetings throughout America. They are also speaking up against school boards mandating masks for their children.

The fires of 2020 caused much destruction on American wildlands and in American cities. We needed that like a hole in the head with the pandemic raging. However, neither seemed to bother the corrupt mainstream media or the politicians who haven’t done much of anything about the consequences. (Remember, they have been busy with one riot at the US Capitol during which no fires were set.) We have reason to hope, though, that America will be as resilient following the flames as nature herself is.

C.S. Boddie writes for Meadowlark Press.

Image: Secondary succession by Katelyn Murphy, with added text. CC BY-SA 3.0.

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