Puerto Rico is everything but well. Imagine siting at the balcony of your apartment while you watch and hear the rain fall; but this is not your average rainfall. This is a torrential; 150mph wind is blowing the rain parallel to the street. It almost seems like the rain is going to fall up as much as it falls down. This is exactly how every American citizen in Puerto Rico felt on Tuesday the 19^th and Wednesday the 20^th of September. These were the days that Hurricane Maria, a historical hurricane category 4, made landfall in Puerto Rico completely changing the landscape: the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Puerto Rico since 1932 (two years before my grandfather was born).
 
            In the midst of this historical event, the diaspora was suffering hard. Now I know what the Trojans felt as they looked helpless how the protected city was being ransacked by the Greeks after they lost the war. The powerlessness – we did not know what to do. We have been through a couple of hard hurricanes (most of us remember either Hugo or George or both), but we have never seen anything like this. The sentiment overtook our lives like never before. For the first time, our strong and resilient will was crumbling the same way the trees were falling down. I remember looking at the Doppler radar while the hurricane was getting close to Puerto Rico with a vile look in its eye and thinking: – why am I here? Why am I not with my family? Questions that I thought I had the answer before, but now they were just questions.
 
            A week has passed and the same emotions dominate our heart like never before. The people of our country are suffering and there is little we can do to help. We have donated money, collected first-necessity goods, and tried to find safe passage of our family to the mainland – All of these efforts are not comforting the island. I call upon the spirit of every Aggie and, in the same way, that we responded for Harvey, Irma, and the earthquakes in Mexico, we respond to the difficulties that are currently happening in the island. This is a call to the good will of the people. The Puerto Rican Student Association (PRSA) is organizing efforts to collect goods to send to Puerto Rico with more information coming soon. Please be ready, Texas A&M University, they are in dire need and we are the ones to help.

Luis R. De Jesús Báez | Chemistry

Luis R. De Jesús Báez is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the department of chemistry. He likes to write about the small things; those that are important but sometimes we forget due to our busy life. Let’s converse!