[NOTE: This is the latest in a series of conversations I have been having with a young Hazara friend in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, about life there since the Taliban took over in late August. We are protecting his identity for his safety. These were previously labeled as "letters," but are more accurately described as reconstructions of our conversations.]
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.
[NOTE: I am grateful to the friend and editor who helps me reconstruct these conversations.]
***
HEADLINES:
* Facebook whistleblower fears the metaverse --
* McConnell spent decades chasing power. Now he heeds Trump, who mocks him and wants him gone. -- In his 16th year as the Senate’s top Republican, McConnell is increasingly playing the role of a conflicted and compromised booster of Trump’s interests. (WP)
* Obama tells young people to stay angry on climate fight (BBC)
* In the remote work era, flexibility is the biggest sell (SFC)* Storied General Electric to split into 3 public companies (AP) |
* The Great Organic-Food Fraud -- There’s no way to confirm that a crop was grown organically. Randy Constant exploited our trust in the labels—and made a fortune. (New Yorker) * Biden administration says blocking vaccine mandate could cost hundreds of lives per day (Politico)A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms -- Inside Alden Global Capital (Atlantic)* * Desperate Afghans turn to people smugglers for help fleeing the country (BBC)
* Capitol rioter applies for asylum in Belarus, says local media (WP) |
* North Dakota Republican behind anti-vaccination rally misses it – with Covid (The Guardian)* U.S. Covid Deaths Get Even Redder --
*A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms -- Inside Alden Global Capital (Atlantic) |
* Top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken said on Monday that Egypt had more work to do on human rights amid calls for Washington to take a tougher stance on Cairo's crackdown on political opponents during meetings in with Egyptian officials. (Reuters)
* Could long covid unlock clues to chronic fatigue and other poorly understood conditions? (WP)
* What It’s Like to Fight a Megafire (New Yorker)
* Taliban-backed polio vaccination program starts (NHK)
* Afghan baby girl sold for $500 by starving family (BBC)
* The Largest Autocracy on Earth -- Facebook is acting like a hostile foreign power; it’s time we treated it that way. (Atlantic)
* Why millions of job seekers aren’t getting hired in this hot job market (WP)
* NBA stars are missing 3-pointers this season. Is a new ball really to blame? (NPR)
* What Paternity Leave Does for a Father’s Brain -- Taking time off from work when a baby is born is essential for mothers and fathers. (NYT)
* In Jupiter's swirling Great Red Spot, NASA spacecraft finds hidden depths (NPR)
* Discovery Channel Pulls Controversial ‘How It’s Made’ Nuclear Power Episode That Gave Iran Access To Top-Secret Designs (The Onion)
***
"The Sound of Silence"
By Paul Simon
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
Then the sign said, "The words on the prophets are written on the subway walls
In tenement halls"
And whispered in the sound of silence
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