06/06/2021২১শে আষাঢ় ১৪২৮
𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖊𝖊𝖐𝖑𝖞 𝕿𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖎
𝕰𝖉𝖎𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖑
I don’t know how many of you know the story of Balto and Togo, they were two Alaskan Huskies, who were two leaders of the dog pack who ran the 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome, Alaska. For those who don't know this, let me explain the story briefly and then let me talk about why that is relevant today. Nome was located in the westernmost tip of Alaska, 2 degrees south of the Arctic Circle and even today not connected by road to the port city of Anchorage. During 1925, there was a railroad connection between Anchorage and Fairbanks, and Nenana was a stop by the Yukon River. From Nenana to Nome is 674 miles(1085 km) over frozen tundra (even today with no roads), and can only be traveled in winter by dog sled. Today the distance is travelled by bush planes in under 2 hours, but it is not an easy flight.
Trouble was, during 1925, in January, there was a diphtheria outbreak at Nome, which at that time (and probably even today) was literally the edge of the known world, a far outpost on the Norton Sound (have a look at the map). Port of Nome was frozen over at the time, so for the next 4 months, there was no connection to the outer world. Air travel was nascent during those days and virtually impossible at those high latitudes during winter. Dr. Curtis Welch was stationed there, with 4 nurses with 25 beds at the Maynard Columbus hospital, and was the only doctor for several thousand miles. As the epidemic broke, Dr. Welch wrote the following SOS telegram to the US Public Health Service in Washington DC:
AN EPIDEMIC OF DIPHTHERIA IS ALMOST INEVITABLE HERE STOP I AM IN URGENT NEED OF ONE MILLION UNITS OF DIPHTHERIA ANTITOXIN STOP MAIL IS ONLY FORM OF TRANSPORTATION STOP I HAVE MADE APPLICATION TO COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH OF THE TERRITORIES FOR ANTITOXIN ALREADY STOP THERE ARE ABOUT 3000 WHITE NATIVES IN THE DISTRICT
Without the vaccine he expected that mortality rate would be near 100%. Also children were most vulnerable. To deliver the vaccine, a dog sled relay was arranged. One team, led by Leonhard Seppalla and his lead dog Togo; and the second team led by Gunnar Kassen and his lead dog Balto. The e story is fascinating even today, as how they fought the brutal weather, and delivered the vaccine to Nome and saved the citizens of the town and surrounding Eskimo settlements.
As I was recently standing by the statue of Balto in Anchorage, AK, and thinking about the story, I was thinking about how different people's minds are in the present day in light of a pandemic. In 1925, Alaskan citizens were grateful and gladly accepted the vaccine, which saved their lives, Today, about 50% of them are believing their facebook friends more than the doctors and health officials, that is vaccine is not good for them, or not tested enough, or is some kind of a conspiracy and is dangerous to their health. No sacrifice by any people or dog will change their mind. These people are all over the world these days, where they were offered a vaccine but not willing to take them. They are not only a danger to themselves, but also a danger to the rest of us. Such irony, nearly 100 years later, in modern times! Please go take your Covid-19 vaccine, if you can! NOW.
fear
Have you ever stayed still and thought about
Your greatest fear?
The thought can occur at any moment, in any scenario
You can be walking on a busy sidewalk
Or attending an important class
Or waiting on a bus station
Or sitting on bench of a silent park
You can be anywhere and nowhere at the same time
And all of a sudden, the thought will rush into your head and
Find a portal to the core of your existence
Fear has its own claws, marks and teeth
And if you ask around, you will find
It has various faces as well
Sometimes it a spider, or snake or dog or a dragon
Sometimes it turned into a living human monster
Sometimes it’s only the concept of death and life
And sometimes it’s just the thought of a lonely island
Fear stays still like an everlasting companion
But have you ever found yourself,
Without the presence of fear?
The realization can occur at any moment, in any scenario
You can be walking on a busy sidewalk
Or attending an important class
Or waiting on a bus station
Or sitting on bench of a silent park
You can be anywhere and nowhere at the same time
And all of a sudden, the realization will rush into your head and
Find a portal to the core of your existence
Fear has its own claws, marks and teeth
But when you find yourself out of its grasp
The concept of reality will change
You can jump in front of a car,
Pick a useless fight with strangers,
Run away from home,
Miss the important flight,
Quit your job,
Become restless, ruthless, shameless, or just a complete statue
Every kind of unordinary action will lose its effect on you
And you will come to realize, how monstrous you can be
If you only choose to be.
Innocence!
Innocence is very hard to find among people nowadays. Even the innocents also find it very hard to compete with this cunning society. Everywhere people are waiting to take the best advantage of situations. The more cunning you are the higher you go in this material life. In a riot, a politician's house is burnt down. Tears in his eyes, standing beside his father in front of the camera. In the back he is laughing, you know why? The prime minister got to know about him, mentioned his name in front of the country, got a huge amount of compensation from the party. The more drama he did the more fame and money he got. In politics, sympathy with proper utilization is a great weapon to go up and up. Who cared for those innocent ruined families of that riot? None. Many lost their means of earning, many are inside the jail on false accusations. That's how it went.
I love innocent people but I do feel angry for their dumbness too. We must change our-self according to the tide we are seeing around us. Well, it doesn’t mean we would end up doing corrupted work, at least we can stand and protest for our rights. No matter if we reach the conclusion or not we must have the habit of raising our voice otherwise those innocent souls will remain burning inside on and on. Nor can they do any drama in front of society nor can they get over the injustice they are facing. If these are continued then everyone will put their hands in the corrupted sea keeping aside their innocent souls day by day.
Let's keep society idle for a living. If everyone starts rushing for self-interest ignoring the greater good then it will be a disaster. Let those innocent souls bloom, have their rights, stand beside them. That's how society will be balanced and we can hope for peace.
Parental love
There might be millions of reasons behind parental love. They love each of their children equally. Though sometimes we see some exceptions. But an ideal parent will love everyone equally even if they have many children. They has infinite love for their children. Once I asked my mom about this. She said, You will only understand this when you're a father yourself. I still remember it. It’s true that we don’t understand their love sometimes. If they ever scold us, we think they don't love us. Some children didn't understand the value of parents they disrespect them ,and I feel so bad when I see some children disobey their parents. But it's not true, they also feel bad by scolding their children. They love their children unconditionally ,and they know that when they were child they also made mistake ,they understand but don't misuse it. If your parents love you even after you are wrong ,you should respect them, promise them you will not repeat it again.
I’m an eyewitness, I sleep late at night. Almost every day I go to bed late, my mother comes to my room to check if I am asleep. But sadly she gets disappointed every day. Yet she does not scold at me. Getting up late in the morning due to sleeping late at night. I miss first class almost every day because I don't wake up at the right time. That is why it's also gets too late for me to eat every day. It makes my dad angry. He doesn’t like it because eating late in the morning is not good for the health. That's why he used to tell me to have breakfast at the right time. Yet I did not listen to him, so he used to scold me. I felt upset but at one point he realizes he wants me to stay healthy.
Hope!
Undoubtedly,
Hope is a good thing.
As it;
Ignites the imagination n dream;
Keep it alive and still
Fresh and tempting as Ice-cream!
Though,
All great things
Must not be difficult.
But glowing the rays of just,
Hope can bring;
Simple honesty,
Truth and trust.
When,
Darkness eats up the lights;
And, with peace;
There was a frequent fight.
Fearing the gloomy end;
Someone asks my mind;
Was that entirely right?
But,
Tomorrow is near.
To wash away all the tears
From busy streets
To the silent country roads.
Singing the tune without words,
Hope could bring out the carnival
Of tomorrow's coming efforts.
Then,
Comes the goofy face
Of hunger and turmoil
Witten epic of the human race.
Asked Him to make the will free.
And plant the seed
And look after it; until
It gets bigger like a Banyan tree.
Cause invest in the future can't be free.
However,
He assured me silently;
Of tomorrow's sweet dream.
Red flower cultivation; and
The aroma of the seashore's brim,
That blows from Pole to Pole.
Let's go then hurrying
Rise against the following now,
Dream a sweet dream.
And play the desired role,
Sharpen the hope of awiting goal.
𝕰𝖓𝖉 𝕹𝖔𝖙𝖊𝖘
Truly loved reading your poem sara.. Both while editing and now again.
Thank you. :') It means a lot.
Amazing piece. @sarashew, you know that you have such talent on writing and your words not only touch me, but many here keep writing, expressing and touching our souls dear.
@Minhajulmredol Yes, we all like innocent people. Their sincerity, honesty, and humble demeanor really touched our hearts. But bad people take advantage of their stupidity. Which I don't like either. They have to be at least a little smarter. It is very important to be a little smart in the world of competition.
@toushik, Really we do not always understand their love. We make a lot of mistakes in our way of life. Some mistakes we cannot realize. Parents show us those mistakes, and give us a chance to correct them. But we misunderstand them. Think about it, if they didn't show us our mistakes, if they didn't give us a chance to correct them, we would have made a mountain of mistakes, we would have sunk into a sea of mistakes. But no, they would point out our mistakes, and tell us not to make mistakes again. Yet if we make a mistake, they will scold us and pull us closer. Will give us chance to correct the mistake again. They will not leave us alone, or never give up on us. Yes they are our parents.
Thank you for your kind words and I will try my best :')
Dada almost 100 years apart and the world is different. People are only getting more cruel, greedy, and selfish. Probably in those days, doctors wouldn't kill people for their selfish reasons but they do now. it's just a warped sense of nature.
Beautifully written Sara. There are so many things to be fearful of. Fear in every step of the way and we hardly realize it.
Choto, can you imagine the world 20 years from now? there's a song in my playlist for almost 10 years now. I often hear it. Ain't no rest for the wicked hear it once if you can, mostly the lyrics.
Rustom, we do realize how much our parents love us after we become parents ourselves... or if luck is on our side then we realize it sooner.. parents become kids when they get older and this parental love can be a great reminder for us at that time.
and there's just so much more to it than it meets the eye. Chondro bhai this is really great.
It's true, fear hides behind every moment but it also keeps us in check. Without fear, there's nothing stopping us to become something else. :')
You said once and i have already gone for the third time. Need a lot of money! 🥱
𝕰𝖉𝖎𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖑
Regarding the vaccine and people's willingness to take them, I think a lot has to do with not just the information, both true and false, but also trust--trust in the system. Humans are more social than logical, and when making decisions that will impact their health in the long run people would rather rely on the people they trust and unfortunately, the government isn't one of them. There is a huge disconnect between the people and the government and its institutions.
Editorial
I think the unwillingness to take the vaccine is also as a result of lack of trust in the government, most of the conspiracy theories is centered around the government or people in power trying to use the vaccine to harm the regular people. Most people listen to their friends because to a certain degree they trust them.
Fear
@sarashew Indeed the lack of fear could expose us to a part of ourselves we didn't think existed, I guess fear is there to keep us in check and rethink every decision before we make it.
To some extent it is true. But we have to think about our own safety. Those who have been vaccinated have a much lower risk of death if they are infected with the virus.
Yes, that is what some of those people don't realize, by refusing to take the vaccine they are not directly affecting the government, but they are directly putting themselves and those they love at risk
Yes, you are correct.
I agree :')
Really sad to see people are rejecting modern medical science in this age. This world has witnessed many epidemics but yet ignoring and taking current Corona pandemic lightly. Even people are not maintaining minimum PPE. Situation is really not good. It is high time to get the awareness.
Really enjoyed reading both the poems @chrysanthemum and @sarashew
Nice to see some talented poets in BDC
Thank you dear! ❤️
Thank you :')