Katrina

I was reading through the Cindy Sheehan coverage: many think parallels can be drawn with the Vietnam protests by now, the early stages. My personal views on the Iraq War are a little more nuanced and it is not pro or anti war. I am for spreading democracy the progressive way. And that is where Nepal comes in. Tomorrow evening I will be attending a DFNYC meeting to put forth the same case. DFNYC, Democracy For New York City, is the largest Howard Dean group in the country.

But Cindy Sheehan has a definite message for the Nepali democrats in terms of what peaceful protests can do. The message is of hope. Infact there is nothing more powerful.

And while I was going about that, there is no escaping Katrina, the hurricane that devastated New Orleans and the larger area. There also I see a message, here for the three warring factions in Nepal, especially the two armed ones. It takes a major natural catastrophe sometimes to give people perspective.

I have driven along those sections of Interstate 10 numerous times. Bridges I have crossed many times have been ripped apart. Like they were made of cardboard. Nature is powerful. We are merely passing by. If we were to approach the peace process with that humility, we could make quicker progress.

Once, it was the Arkansas River in Oklahoma. I was about five hours late. The bridge on the river collapsed, and cars and trucks kept driving into the abyss: it was the dark of night. Early morning.

Life is fleeting.

So we have to make do with what we have got.

Artificial catastrophes like civil wars look extra tragic when we compare them to the helplessness we might feel towards, say, Katrina. 80% of New Orleans, the big city Bill Clinton is most emotionally attached to, is under water. The guy must be devastated.

On another note, I once drove overnight through a hurricane. The rainfall is horizontal. It was not the strongest kind, but it was still officially a hurricane. The road was mostly deserted.