More on Riots

I have stayed home today, even though I could have had a front-row seat to all the drama on Delmas. My husband went to work and watched some of the rioters from the campus, but I contented myself with looking at pictures taken by people who live over there on or near the campus, including people with cameras much bigger and fancier than mine.
Katie got some great ones, for example.

My husband told about a guy with a big super-soaker gun (you can see pictures of him at the link above) directing traffic. He saw people tending the burning tires, motorcycles going up and down with Martelly posters, people on the side of the road preparing Molotov cocktails. He saw people pushing dumpsters over and dragging them into the middle of the street. Others were pulling down Celestin posters and banging on billboards with rocks. There were some angry people but most seemed to be having a pretty good time, he thought.

I am sad and disgusted that this is happening yet again. By this I mean post-election violence, but not just that. I mean all of it; the drama, the continued state of crisis, the constant diet of adrenaline. When will this country have a few months of ordinary? When will there be a whole year with no messages from the U.S. Embassy suggesting Americans avoid crowds and public places? When will children have a full year, even one full year, uninterrupted by days off because of chaos? No hurricanes? No earthquakes? No epidemics of deadly disease? No riots? Is that too much to ask?