2017 Life Logs, Day 275: Too Much
Date: Monday, October 2, 2017
Weather: Still Cool and Sunny; High 64, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Near the end of August, Hurricane Harvey hit the east coast of Texas hard. Tuesday, September 5th was the first day of school here, but it was the day before Hurricane Irma stormed past Puerto Rico. Then on Sunday, September 10th, Irma ripped through Florida. During this time, the worry about Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco in Puerto Rico and Mark’s family in Florida was intense. Then two weeks after Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria blasted Puerto Rico with her fury. It has now been twelve days since Maria hit Puerto Rico and I’m having a very hard time seeing that much has been done to help the people there. They are shell-shocked with the devastation—no running water, no electricity, no easy way to communicate. And now today we wake up to learn about the tragic 59 deaths and 527 people injured in Las Vegas in the biggest mass shooting in the history of our country. This catastrophe was man-made, not an extreme weather event, and that makes it even worse. This one is something we could have tried to prevent. I simply don’t believe the citizens of any country need automatic/semi-automatic rifles for any reason. I don’t believe this is our right as Americans. The right for individual citizens to bear arms as written in our Second Amendment doesn’t say we have the right to possess guns that can kill the masses. This is just too much and we need to have an honest, really honest conversation about gun control without the NRA officiating.
My heart goes out to the families of the victims in Las Vegas and to all of the people of Las Vegas who have to live in the wake of this traumatic event. But I am a mother and a grandmother and my focus is still on Puerto Rico. There was nothing in the news today due to the focus on Las Vegas, but I’m sure we’ll hear news tomorrow of all the wonderful support Puerto Rica has been given when our President visits the island. In my communications with Justin, he has never mentioned anything about food or water arriving in Rincon, but I do believe the community has recently received fuel. Communications are getting a bit easier. Today Justin found that the Rincon Brewery has internet and they are allowing people to come use it for limited communications. I’m assuming Rincon must have gotten a fuel delivery that has enabled the Brewery and the townhall to have limited internet. But Justin mentioned today that he might not be able to come back to town to check for mail until later in the week as he has to conserve fuel. The packages we have sent through the US Postal System still say they are in transit to Rincon. I am basically going to hold my breath until I see those packages delivered to the Post Office. Right now, the US mail looks to be the only possibility of getting needed supplies to Justin and family. I can put money in his bank account, but he has no way to get the money out. And he is running out of cash. Worry, worry. But the good news is that Justin can now text via Skype and WhatsApp when he can get to town to that Brewery. At least for now, there is some communication.
