(NOTE: For the past year, I have been publishing letters or conversations from a young Afghan friend living in Helmand Province. I am protecting his identity for his safety and also the identity of a mutual friend who has been providing him and his family with some financial support.)
Dear David:
For the past year on days when life showed its dark side, with the suffering of my nation and feeling like my future has been stolen, the friendship I have with you and one other American friend I will call M has been like a merciful rain in the desert.
Our friendship has kept my desperate heart warm.
I have learned a lot from you and M during this year. I have learned how to study and which books in English to read. In the process I have gotten to know some great writers. My English has improved a lot. And writing has become part of my own life.
I have also learned the true meaning of friendship. From the conversations we have had, I have formed a general picture of life in America, what the American people are like, and what American culture consists of.
Most importantly, I have learned how kind friends can be. In Afghanistan, with our poverty and oppression, sometimes it is difficult for people to be as kind to each other as we should be.
So my friendship with the two of you is the mountain of hope that I rely on. Whenever my heart is heavy, and I want to complain about life here, there is no one to express those feelings to, except for you and M. The words I have heard from both of you have always been kind, heartwarming and encouraging.
The financial help M. provides is like a jug of water for a thirsty person in the desert dying of thirst. It not only provides food for me and my family but also preserves honor and dignity to our lives. This help is vital to the economic crisis our family is experiencing.
I do not know the exact definition of friendship in America. But what I am sure of is that your relationship with me is more than a friendship. It is more like a parental love that is unconditional. It has been something that I am deeply grateful for.
I can't find any words that can express my gratitude for your kindness. What can be said is that if you have not been, I'm not sure if I would have gone through all those hard days alone, depression would have knocked me down, despair would nibble me like leprosy nibbles someone's flesh, hunger would force me and my family to disgrace ourselves by asking for loans, and my brothers and sister could not continue to go to school.
Thank you!
***
NOTE: I normally do not publish my answers to my friend’s messages. But this time I will.
Thank you for your beautiful tribute to our friendship. Both M and I are very grateful to be your friend. I hope someday we can meet in person. I also hope our communications can serve as an inspiration for others. That is my hope — that Americans will not forget about Afghans.
TODAY’s LINKS:
How Biden Got It Just Right on Student Loan Forgiveness (Newsweek)
Biden’s Student Loan Plan Squarely Targets the Middle Class (NYT)
Biden student loan action ignites instant political battle (WP)
The big winner of Biden’s loan forgiveness: women (Politico)
The White House called out Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and other Republicans who criticized student loan debt relief but benefited from debt forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program loans during the pandemic. Some of the lawmakers were forgiven in amounts upward of $1 million. Meanwhile, the Trump University founder dares to rail about "fleeced" students. [HuffPost]
Joe Rogan grills Zuckerberg on how Facebook moderates controversial content (CNN)
Trump Mar-a-Lago search court papers released (BBC)
Affidavit to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate says 184 classified files found in January (WP)
Barr: Trump using 'extortion' to control GOP (Yahoo)
n fiery midterm speech, Biden says GOP has turned toward ‘semi-fascism’ (WP)
Dems now have a 65% chance of winning the Senate. It has been rising aLl summer. (538)
As a trigger law banning abortion in Texas with no exceptions for rape or incest goes into effect, Beto O'Rourke has released his first two general-election ads calling out GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. “From this day forward, Aug. 25, women all across Texas are no longer free,” women say in the ad. [HuffPost]
VIDEO: Death Toll Climbs After Russian Missile Strike in Eastern Ukraine (Associated Press)
Ukraine narrowly escapes nuclear catastrophe as plant loses power, Zelenskiy says (Reuters)
Power restored to nuclear plant; Zelensky warns of ‘radiation disaster’ risk (WP)
Fears of a radiation leak mount near Ukrainian nuclear plant (AP)
U.N. Set to Inspect Ukraine Nuclear Plant Early Next Week (WSJ)
How Ukraine turns cheap tablets into lethal weapons (Al Jazeera)
Putin Orders a Sharp Expansion of Russia’s Hard-Hit Armed Forces (NYT)
Russia’s Dwindling Manpower in Ukraine Spurs Recruitment Drive (WSJ)
For nearly 70 years an imagined line running down the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and China has helped keep the peace, but the so-called median line is looking increasingly meaningless as China's modernized navy asserts its strength. Recent visits by guests from the United States have reinforced Taiwan's determination to defend itself, President Tsai Ing-wen said as she met the latest U.S. lawmaker to arrive on the island. (Reuters)
Arrests and Killings Drive Afghan Troops Once Allied With U.S. Into Hiding (WSJ)
Could Engaging the Taliban Help Afghan Women? A year after its withdrawal, the United States must choose between humanitarian concerns in Afghanistan and legitimatizing the country’s religious dictatorship. (New Yorker)
Extreme heat persists in China (NHK)
Chinese city’s residents made to queue for Covid tests in heat above 40C (Guardian)
Pakistan floods hit 33 million people in worst disaster in a decade, minister says (CNN)
California to ban sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles (Guardian)
California’s move to phase out gasoline-powered cars, with other states expected to follow, matches automakers’ plans. The challenge will be making it happen. (Cal Today)
CA Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday a $100,000 donation to the campaign of Representative Charlie Crist, who won the Democratic nomination for Florida governor and will run against Ron DeSantis, the incumbent. (The Hill)
EPA to designate ‘forever chemicals’ as hazardous substances (AP)
NASA’s Webb Detects Carbon Dioxide in Exoplanet Atmosphere (NASA)
There's a 'Lost City' Deep in The Ocean, And It's a Place Unlike Anywhere Else (ScienceAlert)
An ice-age bison was discovered! Then soon eaten — once the foul taste was smothered (NPR)
Skeleton of an 82-foot-long dinosaur was found in a man's backyard in Portugal. (CBS)
Cellphone dead zones could soon be a thing of the past. T-Mobile is teaming with SpaceX to bring cell coverage to more than 500,000 square miles of the U.S. using satellites, the companies said yesterday. (WP)
$350 million for WeWork co-founder shows how broken and biased venture capital is (NPR)
‘Are We the Problem?’ The New Dean of Columbia J-School Wrestles With Its Place in the Industry — Does J-school even matter any more? Jelani Cobb is on a mission to mold the next generation of journalists. But first comes fundraising. (Politico)
A New Test for an Old Theory About Dreams — When a sleeping animal’s eyes twitch beneath its eyelids, is it looking around a dream world? (Atlantic)
Spanking is staging a comeback this school year in the classrooms of one small town in southwestern Missouri, where the district will now allow corporal punishment for any unruly student whose parents give their blessing. (Reuters)
The Workers Who Relish Going to the Office on Friday—When No One Else Is There (WSJ)
Coworker Loudly Typing Away Like 1930s Cub Reporter Chasing Hot Lead (The Onion)
LYRICS:
“Visions of Joanna”
Bob Dylan
Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind
In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place
Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall
How can I explain?
It's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn
Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeez, I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel
The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says
"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain
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