Compassion
Before dawn on May 27 a 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook the island of Java in Indonesia.
The death toll is now 4,300. Twenty thousand more have been injured. Two hundred thousand have been displaced.
Please give what you can:
American Red Cross International Services
Update: The death toll has risen to more than 4,500, according to the Indonesian government and is expected to rise as rescue workers search through the rubble of collapse buildings for survivors. Aftershocks from the quake continue.
1 comment:
I resonate to your fantasy because my similar experience comes from life. In high school during WWII I joined a progressive organization for a few months, mainly to meet girls. While in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, I duly reported my membership in the club, whose name appeared on the Attorney General's long list of "subversive" organizations.
Though my questionable connection probably saved my life by keeping me out of combat, it haunted me later when I applied for a Civil Service job. While in the army, I was cleared by the FBI after nearly two years of investigation but too late for me to be sent to Korea. (Boo Hoo!)
But the Civil Service job was held up for an equally long time--at what cost to tax payers for the investigation remains unknown. By the time the FBI cleared me again I had a teaching job and told the government where they could stick their Civil Service.
I still keep as souvenirs the questions and documents that surfaced during my latter investigation, including the questions I was asked, such as "A neighbor of yours subscribes to a publication considered by a government agency to be 'inimical to the best interests of the country.' How do you explain this fact?"
To my shame I reread my abject answer, pleading with the FBI to tell me who the neighbor is and what magazine he/she may be reading. Otherwise I really couldn't explain.
I also heard from a friend whose name I gave as a reference. The FBI had asked him if I liked women. He answered, "Does he like women? Does J.P. Morgan like money?" Being Jewish my friend always answered a question with a question.
Ah, for those grand old days when Joe McCarthy ruled! But what the hey--Happy Days are Here Again!
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