Where to Look First?

It's hard to know where to look first.  Competing crises are all demanding attention.

In the last few days Afghanistan leads the pack.  Mayhem.  Uncertainty.  Blame.  Heartbreaking stories from people who want to get out, whose lives are in danger, and bureaucratic roadblocks every bit as real and frustrating as Taliban checkpoints.  At this point one can only hope for a good result, but hope may give way to helpless unless positive action follows.

Haiti is once again a disaster.  Earthquakes followed by a torrential downpour and preceded by assassination, corruption and poverty.  A poster child for what a cursed place looks like.

More and more wildfires, and the fire season is just beginning.  Close to home northern California is aflame.  Overseas Greece and Turkey are burning.  Why?  Pick your reason: lightning, faulty power lines, global warming, human carelessness.  The cause doesn't really matter.  People are dying.  Homes and businesses are being destroyed.  Lives are being disrupted.  And no end in sight.

Covid is surging here and around the world.  Here, the unvaccinated are fueling the surge.  In states with low vaccination rates the medical structure is breaking down - full hospitals, no ICU beds, and a lack of staff and partisan political bickering about what to do.  In addition, confusing guidance from the CDC, FDA and the experts about booster shots and whether the vaccines protect us over time lessen our trust in what we're being told.

Refugees.  Tens of millions of people have left their homes because of war, famine, drought, or just plain fear for their lives and survival.  And this one gets worse every day.  Compassion is in short supply, so finding places to go is difficult.  For those of us who have been spared we should be grateful.

Like I say, it's hard to know where to look first!