River of Change*
One thing about rivers is that they can be dangerous. Living near a river during a rainstorm can bring untold damage to your house and neighborhood when the banks overflow. The pounding of the winds and the crashing of the water upon where you reside is a great destroyer of life.
That is the case in some places in reality now as we face unprecedented rivers of water, fire, and ignorance.
Flooding due to hurricanes is swamping cities and towns in the south as I write. Fires are not only destroying areas of the west but the smoke from those fires is spreading throughout the world creating a river of unbreathable air.
And then there is the damage that is being caused by the most dangerous of all rivers: ignorance and blind faith. Our nation is succumbing to the rising waters of false belief. As global warming and the COVID pandemic scourge our planet, there are those people, and not a small number of them, that refuse to accept reality. They believe in the false prophecies of the self-centered know-it-alls, whether they be politicians, news organizations, or conspiracy groups – who, in fact, ignore it all. Meanwhile, those of us who are grasping onto science and real data lifeboats are struggling to stay afloat as the pounding of the floodwaters of ignorance rise higher.
Such is the cost of the river’s flow. Can we stem the tide? Can we fight to put the river back in its place, where logic and reason allows us to be hopeful again? Where we can drift along to a safer and a more accepting future. Only time will tell. Until then we must continue to fight to stay afloat. Let the waters of ignorance lose their power and recede from the banks of humanity. Be strong. Be safe. We will prevail.
*Note: A revised and edited version of this piece was published as a Letter to the Editor in Newsday on September 23, 2020.
