10/02/2024

My dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

                  Are you ready to play the Consoler in Chief role? According to the NYT you’re going to see unimaginable devastation where “landslides rendered roads useless, turned downtowns into ghost towns & reduced entire neighborhoods to piles of rubble.” I’m sure you will find comforting words to uplift the survivors & restore their hope.

                  Did you watch the VP debate last night? I didn’t because I was too busy enjoying the company of family. Consensus seems to be JDV won, whatever that means. I doubt many voters will be swayed by his performance, but it’s impossible to measure how various factors affect voters’ decisions.

                  SoW, some speculate that the ILA strike will affect the election. The WP says “disruptions to the economy (due to the strike) could upset voters, but Democrats are also counting on union turnout this fall.” Hopefully they will reconcile sooner rather than later, & Maersk, et al will share their recent increase in profits with their workers.

                  Reconciliation was a topic in my seminar yesterday as we discuss the foundations of “beloved community.” One student comes from Sri Lanka & explained that they did not sufficiently attend to reconciliation at the end of their 30-year civil war, so animosity persists. She wishes her leaders had heeded MLK’s recommendation to let go of bitterness due to past harms & avoid the temptation to retaliate.

                  C S Chivvis, writing in the G, suggests the US needs to remind VOZ & Bibi that they will eventually need to reconcile with their enemies. He suggests you “not shy away from difficult conversations with our friends” & tell them we cannot continue to support their efforts to escalate their conflicts.

                  Likewise, I continue to dream of the day when the junta will reconcile with the NUG & PDFs so that the people of Burma can live in peace.

                  BYBS,