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Carnes: Reason No. 900 for mountain living (column)

Richard Carnes
My View

Editor’s note: Find a cited version of this column at http://www.vaildaily.com.

You and a buddy are making a nice, smooth run, top-to-bottom, down Riva to kick off the season. Your friend is a tad too aggressive for early-season conditions and goes down over Tourist Trip, blowing an ACL, rendering him most certainly out for the winter.

You watched it happen, and while rushing to his (or her) aid, one of — perhaps not the very first — but one of the first thoughts running through your mind is: “Damn, glad that wasn’t me …”



Yes, it’s selfish, but as an internal thought, no harm no foul, at which point the human nature guilt kicks in and you do anything and everything possible to help your friend make it through this tragic moment.

This is how the majority of us feel about Houston, but like the Broncos rehiring Brock Osweiler, there are exceptions to every rule.

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Sure, one moron posts something about Melania Trump’s shoes and both sides go full ballistic nuts. Extremists on the left make fun of it and extremists on the right make fun of the left making fun of it and the media has a field day.

The other 99 percent don’t give a damn either way.

I wouldn’t be surprised if one website posted a picture claiming the Houston looters in a widely distributed photo are members of Antifa and then another website would post the exact same picture saying they are all illegal immigrants and yet another claiming they are Confederate flag-waving rednecks.

Again, most of us wouldn’t give a damn either way.

Houston is under water, and for once it’s not a metaphor for unpayable mortgages, although such a distinction will certainly be in a few poor folks’ future. The numbers without flood insurance are appalling, but now we’ve all learned the difference between that and a regular homeowner’s policy.

Speaking of rip-offs, Hurricane Harvey relief scams are running amok throughout the nation. Be very wary of where and how you send your money, if you feel the need. Just remember, a caravan of 18-wheelers hauling down loads of “thoughts and prayers” accomplishes absolutely nothing for the people of Houston.

Joel “give me your money and I’ll personally inform Jesus of your altruism” Osteen and his silly lack of an open-door policy was embarrassing for the brief moment it actually existed, but even a con man knows when to turn the other cheek and play nice.

Speaking of con men, has Trump actually donated the million bucks yet?

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that President Donald Trump would donate $1 million of his “personal money” to Hurricane Harvey victims. But on Friday, she implied the money might be coming from the Trump Foundation instead, which is the source for almost all of his donations since 2008.

Well, he did offer $5 million for someone to prove Obama’s birth certificate was fake, so it’s safe to say he still has that amount stuffed in a golden mattress somewhere, but far be it from me to be the priority judge.

And he did promise almost $8 billion in federal relief funds while holding up a crying child of color without quickly handing her over to Melania, so there’s that.

Must be hard to choose between helping poor people and building that wall.

My bride and I made our own personal donations, and I have no problem saying so because my brother, niece and nephew all have houses in the Houston area (specifically in Katy), and although their respective homes stayed dry (on the inside), many of their friends were evacuated.

Either way, it’s nice to live up high in the mountains where we don’t have to worry about such things, even though we have our fair share of dilemmas (what if there’s not enough snow to keep the guests happy!?).

But as for the rest of the nation, Harvey was indeed a bastard, but now here comes that bitch Irma for round two.

Should be exciting.

Richard Carnes, of Edwards, writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.


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