Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks caused a stir on social media with her Instagram post about the wildfires on Maui. She angered a lot of people with her post but I’m not one of them.

I’m a huge Stevie Nicks fan. So, maybe I didn’t read her post in the same way others did but I think it was a sincere one. She owns a home about 20 miles outside of  Lahaina and spoke about getting her niece, the niece’s husband, and young son off the island and back to their home safely. The three were staying in Stevie’s home as a vacation before the niece started back to school. Stevie was in Houston at the time. She expresses her love of Maui and especially for Lahaina. Critics thought it was a tone-deaf post. Her home was not damaged.

Captioning the post: ‘Lahaina is not gone ~ It is just away ~ With Aloha, Stevie Nicks, she wrote: ‘As I am sure you have heard – the island, Maui, where I own a house I have been staying at since the 80s – and the small village, city, most magical place on earth, Lahaina, burned to the ground over the last few days

‘And to make the situation worse my young niece, her husband, and their little boy had just arrived for a very needed vacation before she started up her school year (on her way to becoming a psychologist) for 10 days.

‘They had one and a half days of fun and then — the fire started.

‘The power went out at 5.12am (Tuesday morning) but they had no idea why. It was still out at noon, realizing that many houses had also lost power. It was a mystery.

‘My house is 15-20 minutes from Lahaina, but still noone knew about the fire. We knew here in Houston but there was no way to get Jessi (my niece) on the phone.

The entire area of Lahaina and everything around it was down. But here in Houston… we knew.

‘There was no way to know that this amazing town that had survived so much for so long would burn down and disappear into the history books, leaving so much sadness, destruction, and death behind it in its wake.

‘This island, in so many ways, defines Fleetwood Mac and me and our families.”

‘My truth was that I wanted a house here just so I could spend time in Lahaina walking the streets; visiting the art galleries – sitting on the rock wall – Most all the opals I wear on my fingers came from a store on Front Street.

‘I hope the sweet lady who owned that store was able to grab all her opals and run. I hope she made it out.’

‘Over the next two days we managed to get Jessi and her family back to us. They put their little boy (he’s six) in the back seat with an iPad so he would not see the devastation on the drive up past Lahaina to the airport.

‘But they saw it and Jessi and her husband Alec are devastated Now they are back in LA and seeing the news coverage, they are totally freaked out.

‘They escaped the bullet. My house and surrounding area was not burned. The wind took the fire in a different direction. It was all about the wind. Jessi saod there were three doves the house the whole time. There have never been doves there ever. The end result could have been very different.

‘The Lahaina that we knew~ The Lahaina that in many ways connect Fleetwood Mac and our music to the world, is gone.

‘But my memories of everything that happened to me there is clear as a bell. I will still walk those streets ~ still watch the sunset from the many cool restaurants that we drove in to see every night ~ I will see Mr. Fleetwood’s beautiful new restaurant rebuilt and sparkling in the middle of Front Street,” she said on a hopeful note, adding: “Lahaina is not gone~ It is just away~.”

 

You see it’s a long post. She tells a personal story and I think she did it well. Critics groused that she sounded “privileged and self-centered.” Would they feel better if her house had burned to the ground? Sometimes I think people just look for a reason to criticize others.

I’m sure she will generously donate to rebuilding efforts in Lahaina. Mick Fleetwood is chartering planes and flying in emergency supplies. His restaurant burned down.

Oprah has received criticism for her silence. She owns 2,000 acres on Maui. She appeared at a shelter and handed out pillows there. Then, Sunday, she was turned away from a shelter for showing up with a CBS camera crew. To me, that is tone-deaf. She may have thought she would humanize the tragedy and let people tell their stories but that is giving her the benefit of the doubt. She showed up with a camera crew and that sounds like she was exploiting the situation and making herself look good. She promised to make a “major donation” once the smoke and ashes clear.

Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez pledged $100M to a fund to ease the crisis.

Paris Hilton was criticized for continuing on with her family vacation about 30 miles from the devastation.

Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa warned people to stay off the island while the rescue and recovery effort is ongoing. That’s the most common sensical advice I’ve heard so far. Encourage people to contribute to reputable outlets that will help the locals. There isn’t a whole lot outsiders can do right now.