In Under a Minute, Our Values Changed

* “I’m fine. We are all fine.”

What does that really mean in Calabasas, the San Fernando Valley, Santa Monica--an area of more than 2 million people?

“I’m fine,” said 8-year-old Amanda. “I just wish the bed would stop jumping and making me scream for my daddy.”

“I’m fine,” said the single mother of two. “I just can’t figure out how to come up with the nine thousand needed to fix the condo.”

“I’m fine,” said the homeowner. “There is just this problem of the fireplace being in the middle of the house, you know, between two rooms. It doesn’t look like it will fall further.”

“Fine,” said the wonderful woman with the wastebasket full of chips, representing 40 years of collecting fine porcelain artworks.

Fine now means that no one in the family was killed, maimed or seriously injured.

Fine now means that the house was not condemned. We all know the difference between the red, yellow and green signs. Wow! Green! Green is great. Green means between only $5,000 and $50,000 in damages that no one can figure out how to pay for. Yellow is worse. Red is the ultimate disaster, other than injury.

In under a minute, our values changed. Within the first 15 minutes, we learned what community meant. It was the young people quickly walking the block to see that everyone had flashlights (their house is red-tagged). It was the lady with extra candles to share (yellow). It was the neighbor with the portable radio who actually had batteries! In Calabasas and other cities, it was the dedicated staff who had Martin Luther King Day off and yet showed up to help shortly after 6 a.m.

Fine can mean that we understand that all are in stress and dislocation, but that we can be OK together.

LESLEY DeVINE

Calabasas

DeVine is a member of the Calabasas City Council.