Litir ó Mheiriceá – Los Angeles ar lasadh!

Letter from America - Los Angeles on Fire!

by | 2025/01/15 | Current Affairs, International News, Opinion

Los Angeles on Fire!

When we arrived in California years ago, we had never seen a motorway or freeway before, except on television. The Dublin to Naas dual carriageway was the closest thing we had to an Irish highway at the time.

I was terrified of them and tried my best to stay clear of them. I was successful at first, but that quickly ended when I accidentally drove up an on-ramp. There was nothing to do but go with the flow and then we were on the freeway! I had a death grip on the steering wheel and was bent over it. I was sweating! I stayed in the slow lane and kept driving. We knew we had to drive out on an off-ramp as soon as we could or we would end up in San Francisco.

Finally, I managed to escape the freeway at a place called ‘Pacific Palisades’. You may recognize the name because it is now a household name around the world.

In those early days we thought we were in Heaven on Earth. The weather was perfect every day and there was a culture of convenience. Unfortunately, it was short-lived, and our honeymoon came to an abrupt end one day when there was an earthquake. We had the TV on and the news reporter quickly ducked under the news desk. Our building was rocking back and forth but it remained intact. You would think the shaking would never stop, but eventually it did.

It rained a lot during our first winter living in Los Angeles, resulting in landslides and mudslides and the destruction of several homes.

Although there had been some significant damage from wildfires in our early days in California, things got worse over time. Wildfires are more frequent and dangerous today than ever before. Global warming probably has something to do with it. We lived on the edge of the woods for many years, completely unaware of the dangers of fire. We bought a house by the ocean twenty-five years ago so that we could be closer to our workplaces, and we are there still. We didn’t realize at the time that there was a big advantage to that – wildfires are rare here, because the mountains are not close to us. There was a terrible wildfire in this county (San Diego) in 2003, and many of my colleagues lost their homes in that wildfire – the ‘Cedar Fire’. My son and I had to drive by that wildfire on our way home from a road trip. It was terrifying to be so close to flames that touched the sky itself. The air was hot and there was a strong smell of burning. We could also hear the roar of the fire. When you see and hear a fire that big and so close, you have a new understanding of the danger, scale and scope of a fire. That understanding stays with you forever.

No doubt, you saw the fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena on TV, and you heard all the news about it. The fires are tearing apart and destroying everything in their path, small, medium or large, and those suburbs are right in the way. Between Pacific Palisades and Altadena, more than 12,000 buildings have burned to the ground so far. At least 25 people have died so far. It is a terrible disaster that has affected many families, and it will be very difficult for them for many years to come.

There are two main reasons for these terrible fires. First of all, we have been suffering from a drought for the past 8 months. Therefore, all the vegetation is very dry. Secondly, the dry desert winds (‘Santa Anas’) have been blowing in their wake for the past week, at high speeds of up to 160 km per hour. In such climatic conditions, it only takes one spark to ignite a fire and that is exactly what happened in these cases.

It is always difficult to deal with disasters of this magnitude as they occur, and although the fire crew was on the scene quite quickly, and although firefighting aircraft were dropping relentlessly, various problems soon became apparent. The fire crew does not have sufficient resources, due to the fact that its budget allocation has been cut year after year. In addition, some of the fire hydrants further up the mountains dried up, so that water was not available to firefighters at a critical time. The residential water system is not designed to cope with such demands being placed on it. Many investigations will be conducted to discuss and understand these issues to see what we can do to improve matters.

There are currently 8 fires burning in the region, and thousands of firefighters are working hard to put them out. Firefighters have come from all over to help – from California, other states in the United States, Canada and Mexico. FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is on the ground providing care, advice and financial assistance to victims of the disaster. Hundreds of police (LAPD) and National Guardsmen are patrolling the area, preventing crime.

It is a very difficult time for those who have lost family members or friends. It is not easy for those who are now homeless, especially those who were burned out of their homes. Almost 100,000 people are currently under evacuation orders, and it is very difficult for them to find shelter. It will take a long time to clean up, and many years to rebuild.

But the reality is that Southern California is under constant threat from natural disasters, including earthquakes. The landslides, floods, and mudslides are likely to get worse over time. This will increase the challenges we face and make it more dangerous to live here. While it is Heaven on Earth most of the time, it is Hell on Earth at other times!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I bPonc Ceart sna sléibhte!

In a Right Fix in the mountains!

by | 2025/01/08 | Short stories

In a Right Fix in the mountains!

At first he had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. He tried to stand up but couldn’t. His left leg was in excruciating pain and he thought something was broken. He looked around but there was not much to see from where he was. Apparently, he was in the middle of a pine forest. He was clearly confused. He took off his backpack. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw his mobile phone peeking out of an open pocket in the pack.

He opened the phone and called his friend, Eric. But the call failed due to lack of signal. He felt depressed as he now had no chance of being rescued. What about the satellite navigation system? Would it work? He turned on ‘Google Maps’ and got a quick fix. But even though the satnav was working, he hadn’t downloaded the map of the walk beforehand. Damn! He was in a real bind now.

Then, he remembered where he was. He was on Mount San Gorgonio in southern California. Other memories came flooding back to him one after another. He was on vacation in California, where he had lived for over twenty years. He had returned to Ireland when Trump’s kangaroo courts began to unjustly incriminate politicians, television stations, newspapers, social media, journalists, and others. With that, Trump and his followers crossed a red line, because they did not adhere to the constitution of the United States of America. Micheál was not happy to stay in a country that contravened its democratic principles and whose government resembled a dictatorship. 

But Micheál still had loyal friends in America, and that was why he was on the mountainside now. He had known Eric for almost 30 years, and they were very close. They had gone on road trips together to hike in the mountains of California. They had also traveled to Nepal, where they had hiked to Everest base camp. In fact, Eric was supposed to be on this hike too, but he got sick and couldn’t make it. Despite that, Micheál went on the hike – a decision he now regretted. 

Normally, his wife would have known where he was and they would have been in touch all the time. But she was still in Ireland because she hadn’t come on this visit to America with Micheál. Although he had told her that Eric and he would be hiking together, he didn’t say what hike it would be. And when Eric texted him that he had fallen ill, Micheál didn’t tell him that he had intended to go on the hike anyway.

Did he have a broken bone? Maybe not. He felt his leg carefully. He had a bruised ankle, but everything else was fine. He had more than a liter of water left in his water bladder, and there were a few energy bars in a pocket in his backpack. There was an egg sandwich in another pocket. There was a first aid kit in yet another pocket in the bag, and he was very happy to see that. Maybe there would be something useful in it that would help him.

The bag contained mixed bandages, an emergency blanket, duct tape, ibuprofen, a pair of pliers, scissors, antiseptic ointment and moleskin. He took the ibuprofen immediately. Then, he made a splint for his leg. He wrapped bandages around his leg and ankle and then wrapped a large piece of duct tape around the bandages to keep everything in place. Luckily, he had hiking poles in his backpack. The ground was steep, and it was clear that he had fallen off the hiking trail. Micheál stayed where he was for a while. He ate an energy bar and drank some water in between. Finally, he tried to stand again and put his weight on his good leg and the hiking poles. He didn’t put his other foot on the ground, and he was able to keep his balance. He took a few slow steps, testing out the arrangement he had made. It was a little painful, but manageable. He took it one step at a time, slowly making his way up the slope. He saw a few small broken twigs on the trees, and he knew he was going in the right direction. Ten minutes later, he saw the hiking trail and it was a great relief. “I’ll be on my bike now, son!” Micheál said to himself. He was right, although it took him five long hours to reach his car. He didn’t meet anyone else along the way, either.

He kept his adventure to himself, because he was ashamed of what had happened. He promised himself to learn a lesson, so that it would never happen again. Ironically, he already knew the lesson, and he was quick to preach the same thing to other hikers. But you have to follow through on your words, and to that end, he wrote himself a checklist. From now on, he would never go on a hike without checking every item on that list. He was lucky to have survived this time, but he would make sure that it never happened again!

Appendix – Checklist

  1. Plan: Share your hiking plan with someone else (start time, route, return time).
  2. Supplies: Make sure you have enough food, water, clothing, and first aid kit. Don’t forget your hiking poles.
  3. Information: Research the routes, terrain, and weather conditions in advance. Download the map related to the hike, so that the app on your phone ('Google Maps', 'AllTrails', or similar) will show your location on the map when there is no phone signal.
  4. With your preparations made - enjoy the hike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Na Cloig Bhuile Arís!

The Wild Bells Again!

by | 2024/12/25 | Current Affairs, Opinion

The Wild Bells Again!

Introduction

Peadar Bairéad (my father) wrote an article twenty years ago bidding farewell to one year and welcoming another. That article is as fresh and relevant today as it was when it was written. Perhaps that is not a good thing, because we (humankind) failed to make a lot of progress in the meantime, and we are still plagued by the same problems. But hope springs eternal and hope is deep-seated in us. Therefore, we will never stop our struggle towards a better world – a world where peace prevails forever! And without further ado, here is Peadar’s own article.

Annual Lament

The time of those wild bells has come and gone again. What bells am I talking about here, is it?

The bells are rung to mourn the passing of one year, and to celebrate the birth of a new one, and I need not remind my readers that I use, year after year, appropriate lines from that beautiful, nostalgic lament, composed by Alfred Lord Tennyson, in memory of his friend, Arthur Hallum, in the year 1841, to mourn the passing of a year, for in that poem, there happen to be beautiful quatrains, bidding farewell to the year that was slipping into the depths of history, and at the same time, welcoming the new year, and the happy, peaceful life that that same new year would offer to mankind. And since it would be difficult to surpass the verses of that same poem in expressing “Ave atque Vale”, on this nostalgic occasion, I have therefore decided to use those same verses, once more, to do that for me.

Atmosphere

So, watch how Tennyson creates a fitting atmosphere for the occasion, with the ringing of those same mad bells:

“Ring out wild bells to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty lights.

The year is dying in the night,

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.”

Yes, ring out that mournful bell, as the year is dying in the middle of the night, ring out, and let it die. That is the message the poet sends us, down through the ages.

It may not have been the worst year yet, that year that has just passed, but at the same time, the new year could be a lot better. There is no doubt in the world, but many things happened during that year 2024, without which life would have been better. I need not refer to the floods, the fires, the earthquakes, the wars, the sexual assaults, the drugs, the muggings, the violence, or all the other evils, that have afflicted mankind during the year that is now sent into the mill of time, that year of our Lord, 2024.

The Tailor’s farewell!

And since that same year has now passed, we can give it some abuse. In that Roman phrase “De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum”, we were not prevented from saying anything we liked about it, yes, and we can add the tailor’s blessing with his broken needle to it.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times.

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Be that as it may, each of us probably has our own list of the virtues and benefits we have gained from the year that has now passed, or there are two sides to every story. Can't we all think about the conflicts that were resolved, the problems that were solved, the hunger that was satisfied, the thirst that was quenched, the relief that was given, and the crimes that were forgiven during the year? 

The Thousand Years Of Peace

But all that said, aren't we all praying to God that this new year 2025, in a far better one for us, than the guy who is escaping from us.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold,

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Yes, aren't we all, probably, seeking peace? And don't we all remember the beautiful, stirring vision of the prophet Isaiah, and didn't he sing poetically about those days of peace to come. He himself must have lived in a time that was quite turbulent, but under Divine inspiration, he succeeded in setting before us, as a race, another possibility, a time when there will be an end forever to fighting and warfare; to slaughter and discord; yes, and to trouble and violence. There would be no more wars, or even rumors of them, the skills of warfare would be forgotten, and weapons would no longer be designed or made among men...

“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into billhooks,

Races shall not raise the sword against each other hereafter,

Nor shall they learn war anymore.”

Isn’t that vision beautiful, shining down upon us through the darkness of the night of human history? That is the desire of the human heart, and at this time of year, we pray again the ancient prayer, that prayer of the Angels...

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Utopia not here yet

But that era has not yet arrived. There is no end to wars, nor to rumors of wars, nor have we defeated famine, nor to all the plagues that torment and afflict our race, but even so, that Guiding Star is in the sky, to guide us, and to hurry us, towards the Vision of the prophet Isaiah. That is the road ahead, that is the road that we are to tread in this year 2025, and is not that the road that will lead us to the Promised Land?

As we now sail into that new year, all I have to do is wish you all a prosperous and beautiful New Year and may we all be seven times better a year from tonight.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring happy bells across the snow,

The year is going, let him go.

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 

Many happy returns!

Stór focal: cumhach, nostalgic; umar, trough; Ave atque Vale, hail and farewell; ag síothlú, dying; sciolladóireacht, scolding; caismirtí, conflicts; faoi anáil Dé, by Divine inspiration; Réalta Eolais, guiding star; Tír Tairngire, the Promised Land 

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Nollaig Shona Daoibh!

Merry Christmas!

by | 2024/12/18 | Current Affairs, Opinion

Merry Christmas!

Christmas held a special place in my father’s (Peadar Bairéad) heart, and it was undoubtedly a magical festival for him. It evoked memories of his childhood in Erris of the Wonders with his family and neighbours, in the place he loved the most in the world, celebrating the faith that was so important and so strong and so central to him and to them at that time. Despite their living from hand to mouth, and perhaps because of that, the local community was very tight together and they were all very generous.

Christmas put all the children under a magic spell, and it was from that magic that Peadar’s vision of Christmas arose. Even as he grew up and grew older, he did not lose that bright vision he had as a child.

Here, in his own words, is a brief account of Christmas Morning when Peadar was a boy in the 1920s, over in Erris of the Wonders in County Mayo.

Christmas Morning

We could forget about the Christmas Stockings for a while. We would have fun with them after Mass... But 'First things First'... as they say.

But everyone was getting ready for Mass by now. There was no talk of breakfast, as we were all going to Mass fasting. Wasn't the light of the paraffin lamp beautiful that blessed morning?

 It was time to go to Church now, for the townspeople were already on foot, and they were going to church in small silent groups, and it was time for us to do the same. I don't remember rain or snow ever on Christmas morning; frost, certainly; and a starry sky full of bright, shining stars. There was a sacredness and a secret divinity to the cold and the stars. The presence of God was felt in them.

The women of the town met us. They were happy, content, returning home from early Mass, to start cooking. We would have goose for Christmas, at that time. Turkey was not customary in those days. No foreign culture had impacted us, at that time. The custom of turkey is a transatlantic custom, which had not yet been adopted in Erris.

And in the case of that church, in the Geata Mór, there were only seats for shopkeepers, teachers, and other well-to-do people of the parish, but the common people remained on their feet! But it didn't matter. It was the House of God, and it always welcomed everyone, however rich or poor. There was no light in that church except the light of the candles, those candles that gave us a soft, yellow, golden light, a light that was soft, kind, and warm, a light that had the magic of contentment. The end of Mass, and the dawn, coming together. Well, that's how I remember it.

We would spend the rest of the day idling, just as Peig Sayers would say long ago. We would feast, and have fun until nightfall, and be sure, too, that a couple of us would have his own wing of goose, after we had said goodbye to the big Christmas goose, because, alas, a goose has only two wings! 

And wouldn't there be a long, tiring day ahead of us with the Wren, the next day?

Wasn't it nice to be alive, but heavenly to be young, those days long ago, in West Erris, and many happy returns!

Christmas of (our) Youth

At Christmas, with the stars dancing,

As they danced in Bethlehem long ago,

Thoughts return to me in their myriads,

Like angels singing for the season.

 

The big blue candle burning

In the bright kitchen window,

To entice the Virgin's family

Through the frost and snow of the season.

 

My Mom busy making cakes and pastries,

Kneading and baking effortlessly,

And us playing and chatting,

In that little thatched house long ago.

 

The big roaring fire enticed me,

With warmth and loud crackling,

Soothing me, calming me, encouraging me,

With its bright, untroubled visions.

 

Would Saint Nicholas come to visit us,

At night when the Christmas star is above,

Or would the Baby and his Mom come,

When the family would lie down to sleep?

 

Memories of childhood return to me,

Tonight itself, and my age lost from me,

And the child in my heart praises

The child who lay in the manger.

 

Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year, to all our readers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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An tSiria!

Syria!

by | 2024/12/11 | Current Affairs, International News, Opinion

Syria!

“There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.” - Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Communist Party of Russia.

There was an abrupt end to the civil war that had been going on in Syria since 2011 - the Arab Spring, a time of demonstrations and protests in the Arab world, including Syria. Dictator Bashar al-Assad stood firm at the time. He had a strong army and with the help of Lebanon (and especially Hezbollah forces), Russia and Iran, he brutally suppressed the uprising. It is reported that more than half a million Syrians were killed and millions were driven from their homes during the war, and that six million have become refugees in other countries as a result.

He did not win against the rebels this time. Why?

Ebbing Alliances!

This time, everything was different. The rebel forces cut through the country like a knife through butter, and the official army barely put up any resistance. The largest group among the rebels is “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS), an Islamist militant group led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Although these groups have existed since the beginning of the war, they recognized weaknesses in President Bashar al-Assad, and especially in a couple of important countries that were allied with him – Russia and Iran. HTS seized that historic opportunity, and they succeeded brilliantly. But why did Russia and Iran not do anything this time?

Russia

The world saw where the ugly dictator Bashar al-Assad went when the traitor returned. He did what any terrorist would do and fled as soon as he could. And where did he go but to Moscow, where he is safe, under the protection of the president – Vladimir Putin. They will be able to sympathize with each other about what happened in Syria. The huge losses were not only for al-Assad, but for Putin as well. As former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “Putin threw Bashar al-Assad under the bus, so that he could prolong his war in Ukraine. He is short of resources, and he is not as strong as he makes himself out to be!” Even Donald Trump had a few words to say, saying: “Because Russia is so tied up in Ukraine, and because they have lost more than 600,000 soldiers there, they have not had the ability to stop the march through Syria, a country that they have defended for years.”

There is no doubt that the victory of the rebel forces over the al-Assad regime revealed that what Putin has going on outside Russia is only posturing.

Iran

In recent months, Iran has been unable to thwart Israeli operations. Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran. Israel has attacked about 20 military targets in Iran. After a military campaign against them, Hamas and Hezbollah have been badly beaten by Israel, and their military power has been reduced. Iran has been supporting Hamas and Hezbollah because they fight on their behalf. Iran and Hezbollah have been using Syria to transport weapons and supplies to Lebanon. They no longer have that option, and so the Axis of Resistance (Iran, Syria up until now, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis from Yemen and a few other groups in Iraq) is so badly beaten that you would think it is dead. We'll see.

Syria

What is the future of Syria itself? HTS is seeking to install a transitional government, with Mohammed al-Bashir as its leader. He was previously the leader of HTS's territories in the north-west of the country. The leader and HTS will face many difficulties in achieving stability for the country.

The country is home to various ethnic groups, including: Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Assyrians, Armenians, Circassians, Druze, Alawites, Yazidis and Palestinian refugees. There are also people of various faiths, including: Muslims (both Sunni and Shia), Alawites, Christians, Yazidis, Druze and Jews.

The country's economy is in poor condition as a result of the civil war. The economy has been shrinking for more than 13 years - currently one-sixth of its pre-war size.

More than half of the country’s population has been displaced, and an estimated 16.7 million people are in need of assistance. Some 6.3 million are refugees or asylum seekers, and many are now seeking to return home.

Syria is a strategic country in the Middle East, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest. The country will be able to exert a major influence on the balance of power in the Middle East, and many other countries will undoubtedly have a vested interest in Syria as a result.

A Steadying Hand?

So far, I have only seen a couple of countries involved in Syria – the United States and Israel. But instead of providing aid to the country, they have been heavily bombing military targets there. What kind of aid is that? Such behavior does not send the right message to Syria, or even to the wider world.  

But Syria can be supported through their difficulties. The countries that have imposed sanctions on Syria should ease them soon, and pledge funding to rebuild its infrastructure. The country is also in a humanitarian crisis, and humanitarian aid is urgently needed. It would also be appropriate for the United Nations to introduce a peacekeeping force as an interim measure, until a lasting recovery and political stability can be seen in the country.

While it is encouraging that the Assad regime has been overthrown, this is not over yet, and Syria is currently a fragile state. Let us hope that this is not the calm before the storm, but it is too early to tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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