UNPRECEDENTED

   Never been seen or have happened before. Yes and no, but what is true is that there is an unprecedented cataclysm, a torrential waterfall of disasters, such that the level of panic has risen in exponential form. People are frantic. They are glued to the news. They report every disaster. They bemoan the fate of this earth. Why? Because it is happening. Ignoring it will not make it go away. Playing dumb, refusing to pay attention, is exactly what led us to this cascade of terrible things. Nor will it get us out of it either.

It is overwhelming. A Taliban asked a journalist whom he had just beaten to a pulp, "Who hit you. Tell us and we will find him. We will punish him." Say what? The dude who hit the victim was the one playing good soul now. That is what we have today and it is indeed confusing to many. Including me. Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Is it possible to tell them apart anymore? Who takes the blame for the catastrophes occurring around the world? Anyone volunteer? Nope. Thought so.

Our hands were tied. Trump signed the treaty with the Taliban, legitimizing them. Our troops had to withdraw. So they began to be pulled out. Biden,  had to accept the treaty and its terms, though apparently the Taliban did not feel that way. Surprise! Not really. However, something went askew, terribly so. It appeared that the head and the hand were not aligned, working in sync.  We had lost the valuable lesson of Vietnam and its horrid, frantic evacuation, its failures, all which led to stranding so many doomed, abandoned, by NATO forces who reneged on promises - to great shame.

And here we are again, The media is flooded with pictures of hundreds sitting in planes, cramped,  crowded , an ironic imitation of the evacuation of Yemen Jewry, as they crowded into planes in unprecedented number, sure they were living the Biblical promise of return from Exile, the Diaspora, to the Holy Land, on "the wings of an eagle" - the air force of Israel. A life saving rescue but not today.

Today we have left behind so many, too many. We could not rescue them all even in the best of circumstances, for how does one evacuate all the women, from babies to elders, to protect them from seventh century barbaric rules? How do we evacuate all the young who grew up in one country, and suddenly, in a matter of days, often hours, fall into a world such as they have never known? How? But we could, should, have done better. The world should have done better.  But that rarely happens.

From the debacle of Afghanistan to the debacle of the pandemic, we are caught in political crossfires that close the gate to common sense. Things happen only when individuals in power are personally hit with the problem. Hence, Texas cancels its anti-mask campaign. Why? Because Abbott tested positive. Now it was personal. Now the situation had changed. What hypocrisy. What callous disregard for the lives of the people. What misleading, uncaring actions the GOP pulled. Unprecedented. To the level of who gives a damn outside of personal connection? Apparently very few, certainly none of the GOP automatons. 

More unprecedented? Sure. It rained in Greenland for the first time ever. Not snow, but rain. Yet another reminder that we have turned a dangerous corner as we damaged our environment. "We are crossing thresholds not seen in millennia,". Almost to the point of no return - not very far from that either. 

What have we done. We have gorged ourselves on tragedy. Unprecedented in the degree we have done so. Unprecedented. So what now? Who the hell knows!

Can we just bug out of our responsibilities, claim the problems are too big too overwhelming? Read the following words. Then think again. What are our responsibilities? Can we renege on them? Again, who the hell knows!

 "our inability to help everyone, everywhere doesn’t relieve us of the obligation to help someone, somewhere — and because America’s power and reputation in the world are also functions of being a beacon of confidence and hope."