In the Days of Corona

 

The summer is slowly strolling past us. In a normal year this would be a lament. In 2020 this is almost a plea. It would be a plea if it weren't for dread of what is next on the calendar. I love those FB memes that has someone questioning "Who had square dancing hurricanes for August?" Here in Washington, we have had plague and protest. Though, we have been spared the weather craziness the rest of the world seems to have been embroiled in. It begs us to question what is next on the agenda in the upcoming months. A volcanic eruption or a slide of the Andres Fault anyone? To speak of another meme, if 2020 were a birthday candle it would be a pile of burning cow manure.

And our government? What a shit-show! I am so sorry, but there simply is no polite way to express it. It's a daily sucker punch to any sense of reality. Jules Verne and Kurk Vonnegut could not have come up with a better plot. We have a president who is using a secret police and is empowering domestic hate groups to attack people on the streets. They are out turning peaceful protests into riots and murder scenes. The president himself supports white supremacist and terroristic conspiracy theorist. He is ignoring and empowering Russian aggression. And all this while his mismanagement of the pandemic response has cost the country nearly 200,000 souls and set us in a financial depression. And does anyone know what is happening with the children in cages? I cried tears of hope while watching the Democratic National Convention. I am praying for a blue tide on November 3. I feel like Princess Leah saying "You are our only hope, OBiden Wan Kenobe."

As for that last statement, this is me speaking from my imperfect heart. I don't think that the Democratic party can save us. We have to do the hard work, each and everyone of us, if we ever hope to defeat racism in our time. I was raised in the south. Racism is taught  to us with our nursery rhymes and fed to us with our pablum. There are values that are buried so deeply in the filter which we see the world we don't notice that they are racist, and wrong. I have been actively calling out and correcting my thoughts and attitudes and impressions since I was a young child. But I can't tell you how many times I read the words that I write and decide that I reject the idea as being just wrong. To defeat racism every person has to examine his heart and chose what is true and just. I see that as a huge mountain that must be moved. We absolutely must do this work. 

My personal life. Well, I have been very alone. Regardless that I live with my brother and sister and five animals, even the hermit that I am is feeling the sting of isolation. I miss having a church and friends to hang around with. I miss the little girls. We actually had them with us last weekend. We met them at a park. Everyone wore masks and we all kept our distance as much as you can with three children. It was good to see them. But it wasn't the same as having them in our home. And it wasn't as safe as I would have liked it to be The park was crowded. People were being polite, but children are miniature germ factories. I don't think it is something we will be doing regularly for a while. 

Financially we feel blessed, even though we live on the low income specter. My brother and sister are both essential workers. They have seen increases in both pay and hours during this time. I claimed my Social Security and along with my pension, I am making roughly what I made when I was working. And when that is compounded by no longer needing to buy such things as gas, clothes and lunches to get to work, I'm doing okay. This has been an adjustment for me, a long and hard adjustment even if it is a happy one. I spent so many years worrying about being able to make enough money to provide for my children and myself. And now I don't work, but the money keeps coming in. I am free to spend my days as I wish. And the money just comes in. I was five years old the last time I was in this position. I can't explain it to you very well. But trust me, it has been an adjustment.

Cheese is still with us. The first thing that I was told about him when I came here was to not expect him to live too long. He has defied the deathwatch for the fourteen months since. We don't expect that he will be here again for Christmas. He is so weak and feeble. But he is still fairly happy. He enjoys sunning himself on the front walk. He has his animal and people family here. He likes to lick the gravy off the top of the cat food, but he isn't interested in eating much else. As long has he seems happy and reasonable comfortable we will do what we can for him. 

I am afraid that if I don't end this here, it  will become another of the twenty or so drafts I have sitting in my posts folder. Even as I write this I am sure that something is happening somewhere that will have me shaking my head and saying "Never would I have ever imagined this in my wildest." 

Wear a mask, wash your hands, don't touch your face, and vote in November. #bluetide