Dear Fellow Kossacks,
Hurricane Harvey is bearing down on the Texas coast. I’ve never been to Texas, but I have lived through a couple of natural catastrophes. This is not the time for snark and other derogatory comments about Texas. I’m asking everyone to please suspend the anti-Texas snark.
Yes, the political leadership in Texas is backward. But I live in New Jersey, for shit sake, so I can’t point fingers. Texas is full of a lot of awesome, smart, progressive people. As a medical editor, I’ve had the pleasure to work with researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. They literally come from all over the world. They love their work and they love Houston. Texas is one of the most diverse states in America.
Lots of people in Texas and Louisiana might be effected by this storm. And even people we don’t agree with might suffer damage and/or loss of life. That said, if Texas and Louisiana suffer devastation, they should of course get all the government help they need, regardless of their opinion regarding other people receiving government help.
For me, the hallmark of liberalism is compassion.
I don’t pray much, but I’m holding all my Kossacks in the Gulf of Mexico region in my thoughts and prayers tonight.