"We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change – and it has to start today." -- Greta Thunberg
___________
If there could be just one takeaway from the global Covid-19 plague it would be that we are all in this thing together against a common enemy. A cliche, true, but only a useful insight if we can apply it to our non-pandemic lives.
Unfortunately, as the climate summit winds down in Scotland, the various parties are having trouble coming together to forge meaningful new limits on carbon emissions. And if there were ever a common threat to human survival we need to unite against beyond Covid it's human-caused planetary climate change.
As usual, Hollywood and science fiction authors are way ahead of the official curve, offering dystopian visions that may if anything underestimate the gravity of the crisis. But there really are no words to describe the end of the human story.
Just silence.
As a village in Wales slips into the sea, the leaders of the major powers quarrel over dollars. It's biblical, isn't it? The scope of what is to come.
Yet giving up hope in the face of this calamity is also beyond words. The voices of the children ring out. As Greta Thunberg says: "How dare you?"
***
As I posted yesterday I am resuming publishing my daily essays and news summaries on Facebook. There also is a new option for accessing my work: a paid subscription at Substack. https://davidweir.substack.com. If you are willing, kindly forward this link to people who may be interested.
Even as I continue with this free service at Meta, I need to develop a business model that will allow me to keep going into the future. Paid subscriptions hopefully are that model. Over time, exclusive content will only be available to subscribers, including early access to the upcoming book I am co-authoring and other items.
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For my Substack readers, I worked as an English teacher in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan 50 years ago and have maintained an interest in events there ever since. Below is the latest in a series of conversations I have been having with a young Hazara friend in Helmand Province about life there since the Taliban took over in late August. I am protecting his identity for his safety.]
Conversation 16: "Into the Silence"
Dear David:
The road of life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes we are happy and the days pass quickly. Other times, when we're struggling, time seems to stand still. On these days, the best we can hope for is a friend who can help us find patience.
Even then, our friends and family members can’t always be with us, and don't always understand us. We may turn to books to distract us from our troubles. Books can provide shelter and an honest companion in the loneliest of life’s moments. As Paul Auster said: “Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author's words reverberating in your head.”
The escape hatch swings both ways. For writing, too, is food for the soul. If the body is not given food it will quickly deteriorate; the soul also dies amidst nostalgia and sorrow.
Maya Angelou understood this need for release when she said "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
For me that story is sorrow. If the sorrow of my life is not expressed, I will have to accept defeat. I have to find a place to shout and empty myself so that others might hear me, across both distance and time. Even as we can hear the pleasurable or sorrowful voices of those who lived thousands of years ago.
My life here in Afghanistan passes interminably slowly. I'm witnessing bitter events, and I need a friend. That's why I write these thoughts to you, dear David. If I didn’t have writing, I wouldn’t be able to breathe. I would have to surrender my soul.
***
TODAY'S HEADLINES
* White supremacists find a new platform to spread hate: A federal courtroom in Charlottesville -- Extremists on trial are using the courtroom to amplify their racist views, put on performances they boast about on far-right media, and attack their opponents. (WP)
* “It Just Hurts a Little Bit, and It Helps You”: New York City Kids on Getting Vaxxed (New Yorker)
* Federal judge overturns Texas ban on mask mandates in schools (WP)
* Neighbours of Belarus say migrant crisis risks military clash (Reuters)
* Kyle Rittenhouse's defense team asked the judge presiding over his murder case to declare a mistrial with prejudice, meaning the state couldn't refile charges. Judge Bruce Schroeder, who was visibly angry with the prosecution, let the trial proceed for now. Rittenhouse himself took the stand on Wednesday, at one point sobbing so hard the judge declared a break. [HuffPost]
* UN chief says global warming goal on ‘life support’ (AP)
* U.S., China pledge to work together to slow climate change -- The surprise announcement by China’s special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said the two countries would reiterate the importance of the Paris temperature goal of limiting warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, with a goal of not exceeding 1.5 degrees. (WP)
* Germany coronavirus: Record rise prompts warning of 100,000 deaths (BBC)
* Japan health ministry panel OKs Pfizer booster (NHK)
* Alibaba Tries to Go Global With ‘Singles Day,’ China’s Big Shopping Festival (WSJ)
* Now silent under Taliban, a Kabul cinema awaits its fate (AP)
* Fastest Inflation in 31 Years Puts More Heat on Washington (NYT)
* Elon Musk Sells Around $5 Billion in Tesla Stock (WSJ)
* Flint water crisis: $626m settlement reached for lead poisoning victims (BBC)
* France to resume building nuclear reactors (NHK)
* The Internet’s Unkillable App -- The noisier our digital lives get, the more popular the humble newsletter becomes. (Atlantic)
* Do Women Still Want to Go to the Movies? --As moviegoers trickle back to theaters, the key demographic of women over 35 is largely missing. (WSJ)
* Xi Jinping warns against return to Asia-Pacific tensions of cold war era (Guardian)
* Defendant: Ahmaud Arbery `trapped like a rat’ before slaying (Politico)
* North American companies rush to add robots as demand surges (Reuters)
* The Chip That Could Transform Computing -- Apple’s custom processors suggest that computers are nowhere near hitting their performance limits. (NYT)
* Justice Department sues Uber for charging ‘wait time’ fees to passengers with disabilities (WP)
* The Uncomfortable Truths of American Spaceflight -- NASA has pushed its next moon landing to 2025. But why is it trying to go at all? (Atlantic)
* Blinken calls for vaccination gap to be closed (NHK)
* Coronavirus infections rise in northern states, Mountain West, as holidays near (WP)
* Britain eyes 100% zero-emission car sales by 2040 (NHK)
* Study: Fox viewers more likely to believe Covid falsehoods (Politico)
* The last drugstore: Rural America is losing its pharmacies (WP)
* Swift Ruling Tests Trump’s Tactic of Running Out the Clock -- The former president has leveraged the slow judicial process in the past to thwart congressional oversight, but the Jan. 6 case may be different. (NYT)
* After judge's ruling, Trump faces an uphill battle in dispute with Jan. 6 panel (NPR)
***
TODAY's LYRICS
"Shelter From the Storm"
Bob Dylan
When blackness was a virtue the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
I'll always do my best for her, on that I give my word
In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
Everything up to that point had been left unresolved
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
Poisoned in the bushes an' blown out on the trail
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
I took too much for granted, I got my signals crossed
Just to think that it all began on an uneventful morn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
But nothing really matters much, it's doom alone that counts
And the one-eyed undertaker, he blows a futile horn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
And old men with broken teeth stranded without love
Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
I bargained for salvation and she gave me a lethal dose
I offered up my innocence I got repaid with scorn
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine
If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm
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