Commentary on Hurricane Ida, Afghanistan, and Covid-19
The Monday Musings
Hurricane IMusifatheratters Louisiana
In my lifetime, August has been a horrific month for major hurricanes that bring death and destruction across the Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions in America. In August of 1992, Category 5 Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida so hard that my father, upon surveying the damage to his childhood home in the Richmond Heights neighborhood in Miami, called me in Atlanta and said that he hadn't seen such destruction since his days in Vietnam.
In 2004, four major storms hit Florida, including Category 4 Hurricanes Charley and Frances that battered our state with a fury in August; I was in West Palm Beach when the latter hit and again, the destruction set the state back for months—and slowed the legal system to a snail's pace across the state.
The following August, I was in Tallahassee when Hurricane Katrina was heading our way; Katrina took a leftward turn and infamously battered Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Such is why I was stressed out all weekend while watching Hurricane Ida's eye churn slowly along the radar until finally making landfall—leaving millions in the region without power and damaging homes and businesses. Having “been there, done that”many times, my fervent prayers are with all who awoke this morning grateful to be alive, while striving to survey the damage from Ida's powerful winds and rain.
The Kabul Quagmire
From rocket attacks by ISIS-K, to drone attacks by the U.S. designed to destroy car bombs and suicide bombers in the final hours of the 20 year conflict in Afghanistan, the death toll of enemy combatants, American service personnel, and Afghan civilians reminds me of Union General William T. Sherman's famous post-Civil War quip, "War is Hell."
To that end, this past week, I have been binge watching each evening one of my favorite historical series, "The Winds of War," one that is a fictional recounting of World War II. Each time I watch this series, I get so frustrated by American characters Natalie Jastrow (played by Ali McGraw), and her uncle, Dr. Aaron Jastrow (played by the late John Houseman), who for two whole years, refused to flee fascist Italy despite widespread reports that as Jews, that they would be seized and deported to Nazi concentration camps. (Spoiler alert—the Jastrows eventually get imprisoned in the Theresianstadt “work” camp in Czechoslovakia, where Natalie and her toddler son Louis survives, while Dr. Jastrow eventually is deported and killed by the Nazis at the notorious Auschwitz death camp).
I have had similar frustrations with real life Americans who knew that the withdrawal deadline was set by former President Donald Trump last year and upheld by President Joe Biden this year, but yet, they haven't moved expeditiously to return home. It doesn't make much sense to me, but I will continue to pray for those striving to make it out—and those who very likely will not.
Afghanistan Death toll
As the flag draped caskets were reverently removed toward waiting hearses at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, I was saddened by the fact that these brave Americans, most under the age of 25, had their lives cut down far too soon. And I ask, for what? Especially when realizing that terrorists are still entrenched in the region, and that the Taliban that was deposed by American forces has returned as Taliban 2.0
With 24 hours left on this totally unnecessary war that was begun by former President George W. Bush only a few months after the 9/11 attacks, I find it important to note that more than 2,400 American troops have died; more than 1,100 allied troops have died; more than 3,800 American contractors have died; more than 500 aid workers and journalists, and more that 150,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers have died.
I ask again, for what?
Football at Edward Waters College
Edward Waters College, a historic HBCU founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, opened its season with a victory over another historic HBCU, Florida Memorial, 24-20. EWC's new stadium, Nat Glover Field, was filled with fans wearing purple and orange who were excited to see live football in the college's return to the Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). Selfishly, as a Morehouse Man, I am excited to know that every two years, I will be able to make the short drive to Duval County to watch my Maroon Tigers take on EWC!
The Covid vaccine
Hardly a week goes by without someone that I know getting diagnosed with Covid-19—or dying from the disease. As I read today's headlines, I noticed that Buffalo Bills wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie finally ended his refusal to wear masks or get vaccinated by taking his first Pfizer shot this past weekend. Public ridicule was not able to accomplish what significant NFL fines did, but I suppose that so long as players get vaxxed, that the ends justify the means.
I also noticed this morning that despite the free vaccines that are safe, efficacious, and quick to receive, that there are still some of our fellow Americans who refuse to take the vaccine because they "don't know what's in it." And yet, some of these same skeptics are overdosing on the horse and cow deworming medicine Ivermectin because they "heard about it" on talk radio, or watched some talking head touting it on the news.
What really saddens me is when I read reports or watch tearful interviews of folks who have lost loved ones to the Coronavirus simply because they refused to get vaccinated. The Tweet below sums it up best:
To be clear, getting vaccinated is not a magical cure; vaccinated people can still contract the Coronavirus. The distinct difference is that those who have been vaccinated have a nine out of 10 chance of surviving, while those who have not been vaccinated have nearly a ten out of ten chance of becoming gravely ill—or dying.
Now, I have been called stubborn a time or two in my lifetime, and the attribute is often noted by astrologists as a trait of most born under the sign of Taurus, which I was in May of '72. But I am not so stubborn as to not realize that the medical researchers and professionals who not only vouch for the vaccines' safety, but convey harrowing stories of the unvaccinated dying excruciating deaths far away from their families, are telling the complete truth.
Thus, my fervent prayers for my close kin and friends who have suffered or are still suffering from the virus—and my urgent warning to my readers to get vaccinated!
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