These are the mountain people.
We are Appalachia.
For a long time, the media and the world has had a negative view of Appalachia and the people that live her. The stereotypes reach back since before the 1960's. Churches and school teachers came into the region to "save" and civilize the people. The world discovered Appalachia and the media made Appalachia look like a place set back in time.
Maybe it was. Family, community and God has been at the center of the world in Appalachia. For a long time, there were no phones and there was a lack of education. However, the people of Appalachia were not ignorant. The media began to portray a certain type of mountain people that wasn't flattering and was far from the truth.
Appalachian people were lazy, moonshine making and drinking, child bearing, ignorant, violent people. They walked around drunk without shoes. All the women did was quilt and have babies. Men couldn't work because they were always too drunk to function. Or, they were criminals.
For years, this stereotype has followed the people of Appalachia around. Until now.
Over the past week, I have watched a place I love dearly burn. Eleven people dead. Over 80 people being treated for injuries. Seven hundred structures burned. Over 17,000 acres of land burned and destroyed. The mountains, the wildlife, the people damaged and hurting.
Yet, they didn't lay down and cry about it. The people rolled up their sleeves, answered the call and went to work. Firefighters worked thirty-six hours with no sleep to battle the fires that roared and raged. Rescue teams worked for close to three days seeking out survivors which then turned into recovery teams.
People who had lost everything, gave what they had to help others. The Red Cross came in, opening shelters and doing what they can to help these people. The mayor, the fire chief, the FBI, the ATF all remain hopeful.
Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge was a place that you never forgot once you went. The mountains outline the sky perfectly, as if they had been made just for that purpose. If you looked close enough from your cabin deck, you could see deer and other wildlife roaming about. There were shopping malls and dinner theaters and Christmas lights during the holidays. This place became a home before the time you left.
Suddenly, it was burning. Those who had been there felt it to their core. Then, the local media began to tell stories of survival and stories of grief. A mother who called her son frantic that the fire was outside and he could do nothing as the phone went dead. Alice Hagler didn't make it. Three young men all being treated for critical burns at Vanderbilt lost their parents to the fire when they were separated fleeing the fire. As I'm typing this, there eight other victims that have not yet been identified.
While there are stories of loss, there are stories of survival. There was the couple who ran through the flames with their dogs because they couldn't leave their pets behind. The man said he just knew they weren't going to survive when a woman that he described as an angel showed up with wet towels and got them to safety. There was the woman who thought for sure she was dead and she would have been if had not been for a mother and daughter who went back into the hotel to get art supplies they left behind. There was the woman in the wheelchair who did nothing but pray to God for her safety and as the fire roared outside her home, it took a different path and her house was saved.
