Tags: Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Canary Isles, Fires, Incendios, Spain, Gratitude, Token of Gratitude, Firefighters, UME, Volunteers, Heroes, Canarias7, Esther Pérez, Social Media, News Media, Planeta Canarias, Canarias Bruta, Crónicas de Esperantia
As the news items about the recent fires in both Gran Canaria and Tenerife are starting to die out, now that they are all under control and it would be just a matter of hours for them to be completely extinguished, I thought I would share something over here that I think it would be a good time to mention, since it is hardly ever covered most of the times.
Most people who know me would probably tell you how fond I actually am about the T.V. series “Heroe”. I love it, I have been religiously watching episode after episode ever since it came out and will probably do the same for season 2. However, after the last few days, I must confess that the word “Heroes” has turned around into a new, and special, meaning for me. And I guess by now you know where I am heading.
Yes, that is right, they hardly ever get the due credit for a well done job where mistakes can be rather costly (For everyone!); they hardly ever get the recognition, respect and admiration they surely deserve from day one from all of us; they hardly ever get the gratitude from those who they save their lives or their most precious belongings and memories, so earlier on this morning I thought that this is the least I could do for a good bunch of folks (Firefighters and members of the UME special unit and all of the different volunteers who have helped in the extinction of the fires!). My heroes:
(Courtesy of Noticias de Navarra)
(Courtesy of El Pais)
(Courtesy of Canarias7)
Thanks ever so much, guys! You probably do not realise much of what you have just done in the last few days, but one thing for sure is that we would always remember what you have saved not just for ourselves, but also for our children! Thanks!
Oh, and talking about a token of gratitude, from here I want to sincerely thank as well the online edition of Canarias7, which has been an inspiration for us all on how crises like this one should be reported to the general public, both in the Canary Islands and the entire world. They have done an incredible amount of work reporting by the minute the different updates on the fires, they have been receiving a bunch of comments from various different folks out there watching through the news anxiously and share with us some of that drama, and they have been sharing some incredible pictures that people have been taking over the course of the last few days and share them as well with us all to give us a sense of what the disaster was like.
A couple of my fellow bloggers (Links in Spanish) seem to agree with my thoughts as well, I am glad that has been perceived that way all over the place, because they surely have been fundamental in keeping the local population informed, and involved, in everything that was going on during those tragic moments. So, from here, my most sincere congratulations to Canarias7, and in particular to Esther Pérez, for the superb piece of work done throughout showing us all that it is possible to be timely, accurate, responsible, and involved in delivering news to whom it matters. Us. So thanks a bunch for that!
As far as the local T.V and whatever other traditional news media sources, I think they need to catch up a lot with Planeta Canarias. Sigh.
