After helping the U.S., we need the U.S.’ help
Khost Province, Afghanistan: We are six sisters, three brothers and one mother. Our father is dead. Two sisters are married and they live separately from us. My three brothers are also married and live separately. Two brothers worked with American forces. Although they live apart from us, we are in danger because of their military service. The Taliban do not leave people alone who worked with the Afghan army or foreign forces, or any family member who has served in the military.
We have seen many incidents like this among our relatives and neighbors. In fear, we have hidden ourselves. But how long do we do this? We live in a remote area of Afghanistan. The Taliban in this province are still very dangerous. We have heard many stories about the Taliban taking girls from some houses by force and marrying them to their fighters. This issue has taken our sleep and our peace from us. We live in a lot of fear because we have no one. We four sisters are under 20 years old and our mother is very old and sick. We are very afraid. I emailed many places but no one responded.
We also asked for help from our two brothers to get us out of Afghanistan, but they only sent their wives and children out and they can’t help us. Now there are five of us — an old, sick mother and four sisters in a bad condition. We hope you will help us, just take us out of Afghanistan. Otherwise, we will do our own work because my sisters and I have learned sewing and we have also learned cooking. Basrina Faraz
Still stinks
Jamaica: To Voicer Katherine Raymond, who said she would rather smell marijuana than the other smells we have here in NYC, such as urine and feces in various subway stations: Yes, those two are extremely offensive, but believe it or not, there are those of us who have never touched any illegal substance (yes, now it’s legal) and are just as offended when smelling that walking down the street as we are when we climb those steps toward our local subway station and immediately smell the stench of human waste. Shirley Watts
Hit-and-run
Brooklyn: How painful it is to have to bury a child, no matter what age. Yet, to also find out that punishment for the person who killed your child is nothing? I hope that Nick’s Law gets passed. Let drivers know that a vehicle can become a weapon, so care must be taken when driving one. Sadly, a volunteer fireman is not able to. He died in an accident. He stepped up many times to help others, now let’s help his family by making Nick’s Law go into effect. Sharon Cesario
Granular data
Bay Shore, L.I.: Are they recording bat speed and ball height/distance stats for posterity, similar to win/loss baseball records? Why? John T. O’Connell
Storied career
Astoria: When Willie Mays got called up to play center field for the N.Y. Giants, he struggled mightily. His manager, Leo Durocher, pulled the rookie to the side and told him that as long as he was manager, center field was Mays’. That vote of confidence led to Mays putting it together and being named the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year. Living in Harlem, Mays would be awakened by neighborhood youngsters to join their stickball games. Mays would take his cuts through the spaldeen and then treat the kids at the ice cream parlor. He would then go to the Polo Grounds, where he patrolled center field. Well-documented highlights piled up in Mays’s resume throughout his career in N.Y. and San Francisco. He wound up back in N.Y. as a Met, where he showed the Metsies that they gotta believe. RIP to the Say Hey Kid, as Mickey and Duke are waiting for his arrival. Aris Sakellaridis
Rulings for thee?
Queens Village: To those who claim that the Hunter Biden conviction proves that Donald Trump’s trial was without bias, I’m wondering if you feel the same about the Supreme Court and its recent 9-0 ruling in favor of the abortion pill and its ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. Frank Barnet
Travel restrictions
Bronx: I would love to hear an answer from a Republican/Trump voter to the following question: How can a president who is a convicted felon and is unable to travel to 38 countries represent the citizens of the United States? I doubt that Zoom meetings are allowed! Lydia Milnar
Privileged education
Melbourne, Australia: The proposal from ex-President Donald Trump that foreign graduates of U.S. colleges should be given green cards is odd and offensive. He has argued against immigrants, suggesting they are terrorists and rapists, so why does he want the intelligent ones? Ted Kaczynski was a brilliant mathematician, but he is most remembered as the Unabomber, a terrorist. Intelligent people can be evil. Dumb people can also contribute fully to society, and even become president of the country. Dennis Fitzgerald
Left to starve
Manhattan: As Hamas combatants cower in their fortified, underground tunnels, well-stocked with food and medicine, the proliferation of armed gangs and looters reported to be infesting Gaza have led aid agencies to halt their distribution of relief to desperately starving civilians — for which Israel has opened a distribution route — out of fear that their own workers will be robbed and killed. Why has no one asked why Hamas, the de facto government of Gaza, is standing idly by in the face of the gangs’ destruction of humanitarian aid to its constituents? Where are the thousands of students who claimed their disruptions on campus were due to their caring about the fate of Gazans? Where are the Arab countries who voice their concern about the need for aid to their “brothers and sisters” in Gaza? Western countries? The U.S.? The UN? Aviva Cantor
Let walk
Brooklyn: I feel that the protests at Columbia University and other locations were very similar to those at the U.S. Capitol. Yet, District Attorney Alvin Bragg will not be prosecuting those who were arrested for the trespassing and destruction done here in N.Y. Doesn’t seem right. L. Veneroni
The need is urgent
Cincinnati: It’s urgent that funding be increased for humanitarian aid in war-torn Gaza. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said, “Only one-third of the current United Nations appeal is funded. That leaves a shortfall of approximately $2.3 billion. Every country can help fill this gap.” The needs are massive in Gaza and donations need to be substantial to keep pace. Gaza lies in ruin and is facing severe food shortages because of the Israel-Hamas war. Looting has set in amid the chaos and hunger. It is going to take a long period of sustained aid for Gaza to recover. It would be a tragedy if aid groups started running out of supplies. The ceasefire plan proposed by President Biden depends on robust humanitarian aid. Peace can only happen by ending the hunger, poverty and desperation in the Gaza Strip. William Lambers
Bowman besieged
Bronx: The ongoing television ad campaign against Jamaal Bowman has been intense, relentless and expensive. The sponsors of this campaign do not really identify themselves. Bowman must be doing something right. We hope he wins. Rose Mary Lancaster
The fight continues
Manhattan: Municipal workers who spent their entire professional lives working for the city have so far been getting their Medicare/Medigap at retirement, but Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mayor Adams, together with the unions, tried to take this away and throw them under the bus of private, for-profit health care — or, as it is misleadingly called, Medicare Advantage, which it is neither. It is certainly cheaper in that it provides care with lots of pre-authorization, delays and denials. For three years, retirees have come together to fight City Hall and the unions that turned on them! So far, they have won nine times in the courts. Although they are tired emotionally and physically, they are not about to give up the battle that continues under the guidance of Marianne Pizzitola, the lawyers and the many volunteers whose numbers grow by the day. Suzy Sandor
