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Quote by Kamaran Ihsan Salih

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Kamaran Ihsan Salih

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“We choke on the ashes of our denial, clutching at the edges of recklessness as if it could make us immortal. We choose the ruinous path, not out of defiance, but desperation. To feel the sting of fire as it burns down our throats, to mistake the rush of adrenaline for vitality, to pretend that we are alive. Fear is a sweet poison. It courses through us like borrowed electricity, igniting what little remains of our spirit. It makes us feel invincible, young, whole, until it doesn’t.”

PowerMistakesDenialPoemsControlDesperationRecklessInvincibleRuin
Book:VERSES OF THE BROKEN: Echoes From A Fractured Mind
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“Every politician I talk to seems to say the same thing: "Now is not the time to point fingers." Spin doctors even come up with the term blame game. "I'm not going to play the blame game," they say, dismissing you when you ask for answers, for the names of officials who made key decisions. I notice that some reporters start using the term too. I can't understand why. Demanding accountability is no game, and there's nothing wrong with trying to understand who made mistakes, who failed. If no one is held accountable for their decisions, for their actions, all of this will happen again. Not one person has yet to stand up and admit wrongdoing. No politician, no bureaucrat, has admitted a specific mistake. Some have made blanket statements, saying they accept responsibility for whatever went wrong. But that's not good enough. We need to know specifics. What was done wrong? What were the mistakes? I ask any official I can. No one will answer. The only "mistakes" they admit to are actually veiled criticisms of others. The mayor should have declared a mandatory evacuation on Saturday, instead of waiting until Sunday. Precious hours were lost. The governor could have done that as well, but didn't. They could have moved hundreds of city buses and local school buses to higher ground and used them to evacuate the nearly one hundred thousand residents who had no access to private transportation. They didn't. There were plenty of mistakes to go around. I just want someone to admit to them.”

GovernmentResponsibilityCriticismBlameDisasterMistakesAccountabilityPoliticiansKatrinaDisaster Preparedness
Book:Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival
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