Someone Got My Goat!

I was watching a video in which Congress woman Velazquez gave Ben Carson  a virtual speech really meant for the President.  I am sorry it was Mr. Carson who got it.  Her speech was passionate and full of the hurt the President's words have inflicted on the Puerto Rican people.

So, I was reading some of the comments on the video and I read one from a woman who started talking about Puerto Rico's debt and how it was our fault that we were in the shape we were in.  It was crude and heartless and this was my response:

Your ignorance is so large that I don't know where to start.  People, Puerto Rico was in a financial bind that is true but the financial situation was still bearable and livable. They wanted to renegotiate the debt before all this happened.  Set that aside.  What has happened is that a Category 4 Hurricane went through the island.  If the force of a hurricane of that magnitude had struck your state it probably would have blown off the roofs of every wooden house just like it did in PR. It entered PR as a Category 4 and exited as a Category 2.  This was no small storm.  We are not asking you to pay off our debt.  We are asking the US to give to US citizens the help afforded every other US citizen facing this kind of devastation.  Where I live in PR, all the neighbors got together to pick up debris, clean out the daily trash, and even set up a citizen watch at the Condo's entrance because our security guards could not make it and there had been a mugging the night before across the street.  Our regular custodians could not make it because of the damage to the roads and because they were in evacuation centers! So we did the cleaning BUT we did not lose the roof over our heads.  We were an exception.  The majority of people who did not have concrete houses lost their roofs and even walls.   Where I live we had flooding and damages but we had a place to sleep in the most part.  People you need to have a heart that is not of stone.  Your biases and prejudices blind you.  BTW I go to an English speaking church and many of my friends are from the mainland.  They are in the same boat as everyone else.  I have a friend from NC that is out in the countryside without water or electric power.  Would you talk to my friend Kristie with that same heartless tone? I have friends who run a Christian English speaking radio station and they are surviving on generators.  They can only transmit live.  I mean you really don't know, do you, that Puerto Rico and the US mainland have had more than a 100 year relationship with many intermarriages for this type of talk.  It is obvious that some people are being misled by a lot of ignorance and misinformation.

Her response was moderated and but always had to say that our politicians are more corrupt than theirs.  That is up for discussion.  They may do it with more finesse but there are some that are people of integrity on both sides of the Atlantic.  She thought the people in  Puerto Rico were not properly informed. Ay bendito.  

This is what I responded:

Actually, my niece, Michelle Kantrow Vazquez, is a news reporter- News is my Business.  Many people on Wall Street read her online newspaper.  She writes in English and has a You Tube channel.  Just yesterday she interviewed Lt. General Jeffrey Buchanan, bless his heart, who is in charge of the military doing the best he can in the situation that he is in.  I know a lot of people fanning the flame of discord including the president.   This is no time to look down on anyone in their time of need.  A person with a good heart will help you and not rub it in your face.  I am very grateful for the help but we couldn’t be but hurt and frustrated with how long it took.  

We are helping ourselves in this tragedy.   In fact, many Puerto Rican families and friends stateside have sent their own care packages with batteries, food, and supplies to their families and friends but they are not getting them because there is a backlog at the post offices.  They need additional help but they either haven’t asked for it or have not been given the assistance.  I think FEMA should step in and place some troops to help deliver the mail.  Only ten percent and perhaps less have electricity.  Everyday things are better, thank God—more people have water, gas is more available, and Google is helping to restore our cellphone grid, but many grocery stores don’t have batteries, fresh food, nor the propane gas needed to boil the water they are getting. 

If you want to help and are a praying person, pray.  God answers prayer.  Then look up the Salvation Army PR on Facebook or online and donate there. They do the most good with 11 community centers on the island and two on the Virgin Islands.  They are staying there for the long haul.  





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