Editorial: Bridal shop fire reminds us what's really important

We are as divided a nation as we've been since perhaps the Civil War. Politics has split us, leaving civility for many in the dust.

Family gatherings invariably have uncomfortable moments. We're increasingly unfriended.

But perhaps, just perhaps, love conquers all, after all.

Something happened late last week that brought people with competing interests together for the sake of one who'd suffered a tragedy and for the many who also stood to suffer from that loss.

We're talking about the fire Thursday that destroyed the VIP Occasions bridal shop in Elmhurst and all the dresses within.

Owners Nicole Samardzija and Natalie Krstev announced a day later that they will open a temporary store two doors down on York Road. But that can hardly address all the spring weddings that even before the fire already had brides-to-be on edge. Their dresses, many likely waiting for alterations, were ash among the rubble.

But wedding dreams cannot be extinguished as easily.

Our Katlyn Smith and Susan Sarkauskas wrote for Saturday's paper about people coming together to ensure that those weddings will go on as planned.

Ronia Ghusein knows full well the breadth of devastation when a bridal shop burns down. Fire took her Oak Lawn shop and 6,000 dresses with it six years ago. She rebuilt the business her grandmother had started, but not without a lot of heartache and help.

David Gaffke, owner of Complete Bridal in East Dundee, set up a relief fund to assist women who lost dresses in fires. It also has supported brides-to-be after tornadoes in Missouri and fires in Arizona.

Gaffke and Ghusein are among several suburban bridal salon owners working to ensure that none of the brides whose dresses were destroyed go without.

Ghusein is working with some already and has heard from women who have offered to donate their wedding dresses.

Owners of VIP say they've received offers from all over the country of dresses to help out.

For his part, Gaffke says, his East Dundee shop is opening early and staying open late to help VIP clients. The shop will give those who lost a dress in the VIP fire a replacement for only the cost of alterations.

If competitors and strangers can rally behind a business to ensure that one of the most wonderful moments in a person's life will go on, perhaps we could all be a bit more forgiving of loved ones who don't happen to agree with our political views.