12 years after an email from Afghanistan
Memo to restaurants: Ban Moscow Mules and substitute a Kyiv Mule
The Front Page
Morning Update
Sunday, March 13, 2022
By Ken Tingley
Since retiring as a newspaper editor in 2020, I’ve worried a lot about newspapers and the communities they serve. I’m concerned about who will do the journalism and how will citizens get the important information they need for their daily lives.
I was reminded Thursday evening that people still have a thirst for that information.
More than 40 people turned out at dinner time at the Greenwich Public Library to hear WAMC Radio host Joe Donahue and myself talk about newspapers, journalism, the issues small towns face and my first book “The Last American Editor.”
We talked for more than hour about how things used to be and about how they are now.
Nobody left.
Nobody fidgeted in their chairs.
The question and answer session afterward went on for another half-hour.
People asked about the issues, they showed their concern for the future and maybe most of all they showed their love for their daily newspaper.
What was especially touching for me was a question about how my son was doing now. I had written so much about him growing up, I guess they wanted to know how it all turned out.
Another person wanted to know about how Will and Bella Doolittle were doing. They had done “The Alzheimer’s Chronicles” podcast for years, and my guess is that a void was left when Will retired earlier this year. They were concerned.
As I was packing up the leave, Greenwich librarian Sarah Murphy was called to the front door where someone was banging to get in.
Attendance at the event had been limited to 40 people because of Covid and the size of the room. There was a wait list if someone canceled. Gail had been on the wait list,but was kept waiting outside hoping to see me. As I was preparing to put on my coat, she came in and showed me a photograph of a young solider in full battle gear in Afghanistan.
It looked familiar.
Do you know who that is?” The woman asked.
Before I had a chance to answer, she blurted out, “I’m Bryce Crandall’s aunt.”
Twelve years earlier I had received an email from a young soldier in Afghanistan who told me he was not going to make it home for Christmas, but he wanted to do something to help needy kids.
I wrote a column about that email just after Thanksgiving in 2010. I was taken aback that this young solider standing guard duty in the cold of a dangerous, far-away land was thinking about needy kids in his hometown.
I wrote about the young soldier and his idea. Bryce’s mother set up a fund at a local bank called “A soldier’s wish” and Bryce told his mother to get things started by contributing $500 of his own money to the fund.
This was the true spirit of Christmas.
This was what living in Hometown, USA was all about.
Over the next few weeks, people from around the region contributed to the fund. When it was done, Bryce had raised over $7,000 that his mother dispersed to various charities around the region to help children in need.
The woman at the Greenwich event was Bryce’s Aunt Gail. She told me that Bryce was now in Colorado working on his master’s degree in international relations. When she heard I had compiled a collection of my columns in a book, she also found that Bryce’s story was included. She handed me one book to sign for Bryce and another for her.
I didn’t know what to say in Bryce’s book.
I was glad I had included Bryce’s inspirational story. I was glad it was on the record forever.
I finally wrote, “Thanks for fighting the good fight.”
Washington County numbers
Washington County has not updates its Covid-19 numbers on its website since March 4, 2022, despite the fact that 1,000 people a day continue to die across the United States. The county is shirking its responsibility regarding public health. If the numbers are low, that will reassure the public. But how will anyone know to take more precautions if information is not reported.
Moscow Mule
At dinner Saturday night, I chided my wife for ordering a “Moscow Mule” drink before dinner. We wondered if we could make our own mark on the world by asking restaurants everywhere to substitute a “Kyiv Mule” for a “Moscow Mule.”
"[Washington] county is shirking its responsibility regarding public health. If the numbers are low, that will reassure the public. But how will anyone know to take more precautions if information is not reported."
The pandemic itself, as you indicate, is far from over. Perhaps it will recede in time; perhaps we'll experience another spike from a more-contagious variant producing a spike in hospitalizations and fatalities. We just don't know. What we do know is we're still unprepared for what's to come.
When it's finally all over, it still won't be over. Hundreds of thousands of children will have lost one or both parents or caregivers. Hundreds of thousands of others will struggle with the debilitating effects of long-Covid. Our health care providers — those who didn't burn-out and still remain on the job — are worn-out, working in a system that's struggling. This is also true in public health, a government service that's been revealed to be woefully under-funded and under-supported.
Worst of all, our country has been shown to fail at what any country needs to succeed and thrive: Work together in unity of purpose and strength to overcome adversity.