Sunset is usually a magical experience here on the island. The awe-inspiring painted skies make you really believe there is a power beyond our imagination.
Now, for so many thousands of families, a once revered time has become the dreaded hour that light fades, leaving them shrouded in a darkness they’ve suffered for 228 days.
No American should still be living this nightmare, but, here we are, only three weeks from the start of our next hurricane season.
For those fortunate enough to have a generator and even more fortunate to afford the crippling daily fuel costs, there is temporary power for the fridge, a light or two, the fan, maybe the t.v. or microwave if their generator is strong enough... for a few hours. Those few precious hours have another unavoidable price — the incessant noise pollution and fumes that are very real dangers to our physical and mental health.
You might think that after seven months folks would get used to the nerve-wracking sounds and nauseating odors, but, you’d be wrong. There is no normalizing any of this.
For so many thousands of others, it’s an incredibly stressful time of scraping together enough money for ice, fresh water, canned food, batteries, candles… then struggling to find sleep in the suffocating heat and praying for the sun to rise. The heavy toll of this daily grind cannot be over-exaggerated, it just can't.
Can you even imagine seven-and-a-half months of being without power? Even after everything I’ve been through, I can’t.
I only had to survive two-and-a-half months without power or water before finding this apartment in the city with functioning utilities. Since the move, I’ve had my share of blackouts, but, it’s nothing compared to the horrible conditions too many of my fellow islanders are still experiencing. I know better than to complain when struck with temporary darkness, no matter whether it’s for 12, 24 or 48 hours at a time. The only displays of emotion we allow ourselves are the cheers that swell like a wave and then recede as block after block has power restored.
It’s impossible to describe my appreciation for being able to turn on a light, or take a hot shower, or wash my clothes, or charge the phone, or reheat food in the microwave, or flush the toilet, or sleep through the night with a fan and without out the grinding, maddening sound of a generator. I’ll never take any of this for granted ever again.
It’s equally impossible for me to put out of my mind the devastating reality that other Puerto Ricans are forced to endure because of this administration’s deplorable recovery efforts and their minimizing of this disaster. We all have family or friends outside of the metro area who are still suffering, and we all seem to share the same sense of survivor’s guilt and shame for conditions that are beyond any of our control.
So many of us are still grieving from life-changing losses and I just don’t know how any of us are supposed to get past any of this.
Nothing is “normal” here, no matter what you read in reports on the mainland.
I’m beyond frustrated with the few and far between headlines about Puerto Rico from across the big water, ocean water. Unless we suffer a major event such as our island-wide blackout two weeks ago, we barely earn a mention in the news — news that most definitely shapes the national consciousness.
Perception is reality and, whether we admit it or not, the occupant of the White House has won the narrative.
This is not his Katrina — that’s the only thing he has ever cared about concerning Puerto Rico since Maria destroyed our island.
According to his narrative, we should be “proud” to have suffered only 16 deaths — now credibly estimated to have been 1,200, and counting...
This is not his Katrina.
According to his narrative, we Puerto Ricans have no one to blame but ourselves, our infrastructure, our financial crisis, our own exhausted local government.
This is not his Katrina.
According to his narrative, the pathetic, negligent recovery efforts by this U.S. administration is fake news, and the longest blackout in American history is certainly not his fault.
This is not his Katrina.
A complicit press has amplified his conjured perception into our devastating reality — a reality no American citizen should ever have to face.
I don’t think it’s possible for us to ever forgive or ever forget.
Please share stories about what's really happening in Puerto Rico on the ground via social media, because we cannot depend on the mainstream media or this administration to have our backs. Without you, we really would be on our own.