id you
hear the news that something like twenty thousand people died in Europe
last month because of a heat wave? Twenty thousand! Because it
was hot! Most of them were old people of course. Thirteen
thousand of those deaths were in France alone!
Forgive me for being insensitive, but am I the only one wondering
exactly how twenty thousand people just up and died from
being too hot? I don’t care if they didn’t have air conditioning.
Open a freakin’ window for crying out loud! Go outside and sit in
the shade! Fill the tub with cold water and sit in it! Something!
Anything! Anything has got to be better than baking inside your own
skull until you die.
And sure sure, I know most of these people were old and couldn’t move
around too well. But you’d think a person who doesn’t have the strength
or motor skills to hobble across a room and open a window must
have somebody checking in on them every day. Surely they could
have opened a window.
The French are calling for an inquiry as to why the government didn’t
"do more" to help. Do more what, I wonder. Walk through the
streets, offering people ice? Aim high-powered fire hoses through all
the closed windows? Knock on everybody’s door and ask, "Hey, hot enough
for ya?" Believe me, I am all in favor of criticizing the French
government, but could they really have forced thirteen thousand people
to open their windows? It is a free country after all. If somebody
wanted to turn their apartment into an easy-bake oven, that was
certainly their right.
Not that the French government is shirking all responsibility.
In response to the continent-wide epidemic, they have decided to abolish
one of the country’s national holidays…
I’m going to say that once more, just in case you missed it the first
time or thought it was a typo. The French government, an elected body
supposedly, in response to thirteen thousand of its constituents
suddenly dying in a heat wave, has decided to select one of France’s
eleven national holidays, and abolish it. I swear I’m not making this
up.
The thought behind the proposal is that by forcing the entire country to
work on one of their days off, they can use the extra generated revenue
from that day to finance care for the elderly. Huh? So, what
then? Any taxable income earned on the abolished holiday will be used to
hire government agents, who will knock down elderly people’s doors and
drag them out into the shade or something? Great idea guys. I only have
one suggestion. Make sure it’s a winter holiday you abolish. You
wouldn’t want to make people work an extra day in the middle of summer
would you? Might just exacerbate the situation.
The topic of one less holiday is stirring up quite a fuss in France.
While some are debating which holiday will be the one to go, others are
arguing the merits of sacrificing a three-day weekend. Heads of the
business federation praised the proposal, while a leader in the
country’s Communist party called it "an outrage." Hubert Falco,
secretary of state for the elderly (apparently they have their own
secretaries), told the Associated Press, "It's one of the possibilities,
among many others, to try to find genuine solidarity in the nation. It
would be a holiday that would be worked to the advantage of national
solidarity." An American ambassador to France
disagreed, stating that the best way to national solidarity is to make
fun of another nation while boycotting its products.
Still others (me) are considering the utter silliness of using tax
dollars to discuss national holidays in the first place. But the debates
really have been a good thing. They’re giving the government a break
from having to deal with the thirteen thousand extra corpses baking in
the streets.
Actually, the heat wave has finally ebbed in Europe. Just in time for
the hurricane season to start. I’m sure everybody across the continent,
especially in France won’t be caught off-guard by the changes in weather
this time. When the rain starts pounding, I know they’ll be ready. If
only for the fact that all their windows have apparently been closed all
summer anyway.
