Gratitude Monday: just an anomaly

I knew that the environs of The District They Call Columbia was in the path of the smoke from Canadian wildfires, but Friday morning, when I stuck my head out of the back door to toss out birdseed, I’d forgot about that. Because my yard is closed in by trees and shrubs, I couldn’t see the haze, but I reacted to the smell and taste of the air.

“Is-is someone barbecuing at this hour? Burning leaves?”

Then I remembered.

I had to go out a couple of times, once in the morning and once in mid-afternoon. Both times my eyes burned and by late afternoon I felt that painful catch in my lungs as they notified me that they were full of particulates and I should cool it.

Here’s the thing—I grew up in Los Angeles before anyone gave a damn about air quality. I must have spent half my childhood and youth never being able to actually fill my lungs with air because of smog. Only rarely could I see the sky without the pollution blocking the view (usually after rain), and never in the summer months. It got so that schools throughout the Basin couldn’t let kids out for recess or physical education for weeks at a time. It wasn’t until I moved away and then returned after some years of lung-clearing that I realized what I’d been ingesting all that time.

LA cleaned up its act—well, California did. It took decades and caused much squawk from industries—including auto manufacturers—and consumers. But they cleaned the air, and that’s my gratitude for today. It’s been decades since I experienced what I did this past weekend—I’ve taken it so for granted that I forgot all about it. But what a gift to live in a functioning advanced society with clean air!

I say this recognizing that even as the words flow from my keyboard this administration is doing everything it can to send us back to Smog Alertville. That just makes me all the more grateful that something like this weekend is an anomaly, and it should be so. We may have to do it all over again when these kleptocrats are driven from office, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor.

 

©2026 Bas Bleu