Covid - On Empathy

Covid - On Empathy

I watched this video today.

It's funny, and it's a little silly, and then it's shocking...and then it is sad.

It's really, quite profoundly sad. As you watch these 8 people from outside the US observe just a series of clips, and images, and facts, presented honestly for consumption.

Poetry - Obedience

Poetry - Obedience

Her lips against my ear, and a hand calm against my forehead.

"Drown" she whispers and pushes slow and painless.

I slip beneath the surface...

And did.

Tragedy - Notre Dame Burns

Tragedy - Notre Dame Burns

"And in the middle of all that grief, there are harmonies. Humans are such magnificent creatures."

https://twitter.com/mikegalsworthy/status/1117881594847612928

Life - Altschmerz

Life - Altschmerz

n. weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had—the same boring flaws and anxieties you’ve been gnawing on for years, which leaves them soggy and tasteless and inert, with nothing interesting left to think about, nothing left to do but spit them out and wander off to the backyard, ready to dig up some fresher pain you might have buried long ago.

Tragedy - Roald Dahl - Loss

Tragedy - Roald Dahl - Loss

Roald Dahl wrote this heartbreaking account about his daughter Olivia, who died of Measles.

Awful drive. Lorries kept holding us up on narrow roads. Got to hospital. Ambulance went to wrong entrance. Backed out. Arrived. Young doctor in charge. Mervyn and he gave her 3mg sodium amatol. I sat in hall. Smoked. Felt frozen. A small single bar electric fire on wall. An old man in next room. Woman doctor went to phone. She was trying urgently to locate another doctor. He arrived. I went in. Olivia lying quietly. Still unconscious. She has an even chance, doctor said. They had tapped her spine. Not meningitis. It's encephalitis. Mervyn left in my car. I stayed. Pat arrived and went in to see Olivia. Kissed her. Spoke to her. Still unconscious. I went in. I said, "Olivia Olivia." She raised her head slightly off pillow. Sister said don't. I went out. We drank whiskey. I told doctor to consult experts. Call anyone. He called a man in Oxford. I listened. Instructions were given. Not much could be done. I first said I would stay on. Then I said I'd go back with Pat. Went. Arrived home. Called Philip Evans. He called hospital. Called me back. "Shall I come?" "Yes please." I said I'd tell hospital he was coming. I called. Doc thought I was Evans. He said I'm afraid she's worse. I got in the car. Got to hospital. Walked in. Two doctors advanced on me from waiting room. How is she? I'm afraid it’s too late. I went into her room. Sheet was over her. Doctor said to nurse go out. Leave him alone. I kissed her. She was warm. I went out. "She is warm." I said to doctors in hall, "Why is she so warm?" "Of course," he said. I left.

Writing - Colonel Thomas Ferebee

Writing - Colonel Thomas Ferebee

Ferebee.

Thomas Ferebee.

Colonel Thomas Ferebee.

Colonel Thomas Ferebee, the name of the man, the soldier, the airman, who pressed a button.  He pressed a button and a bomb fell from a plane.

Colonel Thomas Ferebee was an airman, who pressed a button, and dropped a bomb from a plane.  He dropped a bomb that would later be known as the first atomic bomb.  The first atomic bomb on people.  The first atomic bomb from a plane, at the push of his button, on people.

Colonel Thomas Ferebee pushed a button and dropped a bomb, and a hundred and fifty thousand people, a hundred and fifty thousand people died in a flash so hot, and so fast, that it left shadows where they stood.  Colonel Thomas Ferebee, an airman, pressed a button and an atomic bomb fell down from a plane.

The bomb killed a hundred and fifty thousand people.  No one ever says, history does not remember, "Colonel Thomas Ferebee killed a hundred and fifty thousand people."

No one remeembers that Colonel Thomas Ferebee pushed a button.

They only remember the white hot flash.

And the silence thereafter.