I’m writing this as rain finally falls on the Bighorns. I speak for everyone who has watched the mountains burn; we have never been more excited to see precipitation and cool weather.  My gratitude is overwhelming.

Often, gratitude follows acts of generosity, evident as we watch friends and neighbors unite to help each other through these hard times.

I’m reading Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson, the Head of TED (of TED Talks, etc.). Isn’t that fun? I’d like to have the Head of Ted (HOT) title. Rolls right off the tongue.

Anyway, his bold and audacious premise is that being generous can spread like a virus but with much healthier and positive results. The HOT is convinced that despite the often-maligned qualities of the internet (negativity, misinformation, divisiveness, and worse), gestures of generosity can also cause ripple effects that could deliver viral results. Before the Worldwide Web, if someone was generous, only the recipient and maybe a few other people knew. Now, acts of generosity can be seen by millions, inspiring others to be giving.

I have spent more time on Facebook in the last three weeks than I have all year, but this stint has restored my faith in the power and positivity that’s possible (three p’s!) through social media. As I read Infectious Generosity, I watched it play out in real-time as the fire raged in the Bighorns.

Anderson says that generosity doesn’t have to involve money. There are other ways to be generous. Although financial donations are always needed and appreciated (thank you, Ian Munsick’s GoFundMe donors and everyone else who has written checks or stuffed cash in jars to help), you don’t have to have great means to be generous. Below are a few ways I’ve seen Sheridan County and those who love the mountains step up to be generous.

Enable Connections – The number of semi-trucks lined up to bring cattle off the mountain for other ranchers made me tear up. Complete strangers with large livestock trailers came from all over to help the Kerns family and others quickly transport cows and calves to safety. They came because they saw the desperate call on social media for help.

I know several people living in areas threatened with evacuation but were out of the country or unable to load up their valuables due to age, etc. With a couple of texts, friends, neighbors, and family loaded trucks and trailers with their possessions and kept them safe.

Provide hospitality – This opportunity for generous acts was all over social media, too. The people who offered their spare bedrooms to people they’ve never met who had to evacuate their homes were beyond inspirational. Corrals, pastures, barns, parking lots, and driveways – all extended to those affected by the raging fires.

Shift attention – Political divides are just as deep in Sheridan County as they are throughout this country. Trump flags fly next door to Harris/Walz yard signs. Vitriol flows at local political meetings and candidate forums. None of it matters when we join hands to help each other through a horrible, scary time. Bridges are built, and grievances are waived by shifting attention from preconceived notions about neighbors’ beliefs to seeing them as fellow humans who need your help.

Whether you’ve only been able to watch in horror as the fire progresses or have a more active role, everyone is doing the best they can, where they are, with the information and resources they have. To see pictures of the Parkman Bar loaded with donated supplies, the signs around the county thanking the firefighters, and the countless Facebook posts on the Sheridan County Government and Bighorn National Forest pages expressing overwhelming gratitude render me speechless. This is Infectious Generosity on a local level, and I am so proud of us.