On August 4, 2020, I was bracing for my 53rd wedding anniversary—the first following the death of my wife, Eileen—when news broke of a massive explosion in the Port of Beirut. Thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate, stored in the port’s grain silos, detonated causing the largest non-nuclear blast in modern times. The death toll was 240, with more than 7,000 injured and 300,000 left homeless.