THE ULTIMATE ENEMY

By  Don C. Reed

“We must fight like we never fought before…”– Barack  Obama, 8/20/2024

“All that is necessary for the triumph of  evil is  for men of good will to do nothing,”–Edmund  Burke

“Do something!”  –Michelle Obama, 8/20/2024

First, a story.

i experienced poison gas in the  Army,  in 1963.

It was only a drill, we were told, but the gas was real.

“There are two kinds of poison gas,” the  Sergeant said, as he passed out the black rubber gas masks, “Cry Now, or Cry Sooner:  CN or  CS. We’re  using CS today. It’s the bad kind”.

A wave of muttering filled the airtight room.

“You need to know, you can trust your mask”, explained the Sergeant.

Adjusting the straps, I tried to ignore the claustrophobia, as the black rubber narrowed my field of vision

“When I take off my mask, you do the same.” The sergeant was  short and muscular. He slipped a mask over his shaved head.

Why take off a perfectly good mask, I thought, if there was poison gas around?

I waited for someone to object, but no one did.

The Sergeant turned a knob—hssssssssss—a dirty cloud filled the room..

“All right, boys,” he said, slipping off his mask.

I yanked mine off,  quick as I could, trying not to think about it.   Instantly there was a burning sensation on my face. Tears flooded down. My nose felt like something had been thrust up inside. I needed a handkerchief.

One man still sat on the bench, clutching the  mask  to the sides of his head.

“We don’t  stop till he breathes,” said the Sergeant.

There was a pause.

“Help him,” said the Sergeant, so we did.  Enthusiastically.

But when the mask was off– he covered his face with his hands.

“He  still has to breathe”, said the Sergeant.

The reluctant warrior coughed, choked,—and threw up.

The Sergeant  opened the door.

We tumbled out into the cool clean  air….

What  does this have to do with the “ultimate enemy?” Bear with me.

First, you may not have  choked on  CS or  CN recently, but you almost certainly have breathed in pollution, a form of poison gas, which may lead to cancer.

Second, this Summer’s heat has been miserable. I slept with three  fans on HIGH, but  even so the  streams  of stirred air were chokingly hot,. and next Summer’s weather looks worse.  Why is it so hot?  The air is thicker with  pollution, and therefore retains heat. More pollution, more heat.

And my personal discomfort is trivial—with half the  world so hot and dry it increasingly runs short of  drinking water.

Third, forest fires are ever-increasing. I drove  down a freeway once with walls of orange flame, high on both sides. What if there had been a traffic jam?

Our future will be decided by the  November 5^th  election.

If  Donald Trump wins the upcoming election, everybody loses, except for him and his rich friends, playing in his little pink palace.

As for the rest of us, we will be condemned to breathe more and more pollution, suffering ever greater global warming.  Those who profit from not cleaning up after themselves (oil companies, etc.) will continue to do so, while the rest of us suffer on the path they put us on.

Yet we can win.

We must put  fighters against pollution into power. With  Kamala  Harris and Tim  Walz in the White  House, backed up by a muscular  Congress, we can   control the amount of poisons in the air. We can restore a healthy habitat for all.

And what is the ultimate enemy, the  sole guarantee of failure?

Apathy.

If we pretend we do not care, surrender when there is no need—we are abandoning our duties.  We  have children, grandchildren, friends—plus ourselves!  All  deserve a safe beautiful world. It is the  job of humanity to fight the problems of the earth, especially by electing good people—whereby we will prevail.

It will be neither quick nor easy;  nothing valuable is cheap.  But it is definitely doable.  It is only  when we give up and do nothing that we are defeated.

As the old saying goes ,”If we never give up, we can only win, or die.  And  everybody dies– so why not try?”

–Don C. Reed, www.stemcellbattles.net

P.S. I have no connection to the Kamala Harris Victory   Fund–  except that I respect and support it. As a “small dollar donor”,  I just sent $25 to them—would you consider doing the same?  Below is an address to reach them.

https://kamalaharris.com/