NOT LIKE IN THE MOVIES

 

Well, I really like disaster movies. It's not for dark reasons. Up until now, I liked imagining what the world would be like if there were a really big disruption. This is a product of my relatively secure American life. People in other parts of the world do not have to imagine this.

In my reality though, every time a big disruption has indeed occurred in my region, such as an earthquake, a wildfire, a power shutdown, I hate it. Go figure.

But this time it's different. Unlike in a movie whose scenario is exciting and action packed, we're now living through a slow-motion disaster. We can't even see it. We can only see its outcomes.

First there were the empty streets. Then vacant restaurants and shops, our cities looking like ghost towns. Hospital ICUs began filling up. Medical personnel were desperate for enough supplies. More and more people were struck down by the virus. Eventually though, horrifically, society began getting used to it all.

And denial reared its stupid head. First, the college kids would not be denied their Spring break partying. Then townspeople would not be denied their 4th of July celebrations. Beaches again drew summer crowds. Like a nation composed of nothing but adolescents, Americans would not be denied their traditional fun times, even though their lives were at stake. Finally, the big holidays! We absolutely would not forgo those!

So, like stupid, childish buffoons, we made matters worse. UNTIL! The vaccine finally arrived to save us all. Excruciatingly, we each waited our turn for it. 

Then the most bizarre movement was born. The Denier in Chief of course caught Covid-19, was then hospitalized, and subsequently was secretly vaccinated. He stunningly next proceeded to court his voters by defining freedom as choosing not to be vaccinated. And his followers took him up on that! And they are now dying in throngs! That's right. Kill your voters! Wait, what?

Now there appears to be an unspoken decision by American society to just move forward. If we just go about our normal activities, we can somehow will the pandemic to go away? That's not following the science. And I'm still not comfortable joining the throngs. I want to be alive on this planet a while longer, and for myself, gambling with this virus is not the way to ensure that.

After four years of the most dangerous and dysfunctional leader in U.S. history, and now with close to two years of deadly pandemic, if our nation was a person, we would need intense therapy sessions for years to come in order to even half understand what we have been doing (or not doing) to ourselves.

This is not the disaster movie I was expecting to watch.

DEMOCRACY SLIPPING AWAY

 

Trust in each other is gone. Trust in science is gone. Trust in community is gone.

Almost exactly one year ago from this day, I penned a post about our country's plunge into the pandemic. The U.S. had lost an astounding 186,000 souls to Covid-19 in six months. Now one year later we have lost 480,559 more people, totaling 666,559 Americans gone from this virus in the span of 18 months.

There should be total unity in a warlike effort to stop the spread of this deadly and cruel disease. But stunningly there is a solid block of citizens who believe it's all not real, and therefore are not cooperating in this effort. They wear psychological blinders instead of the literal masks they should be sporting. Their "freedom" is priority number one. They are aiding and abetting the delta variant of Covid-19.

How did we cultivate such people? Were they scuttled through the public school system without ever learning anything about science? In their upbringing didn't they ever learn to care about their communities?

Packed Labor Day beachgoers. Packed football stadiums. Packed music festivals. All going on today. All willing to risk their health, their lives, and those of their loved ones and their communities, just for some good fun. It seems we have a national adolescent mindset. 

As if that were not more than enough, there is an evil and dangerous political/social disinformation campaign spreading like yet another virus. And it's coming from within. Putin must be laughing with glee to see the outcome of what he started. We are in a shit storm of peril.

I fear that we are seeing the beginning of the end of our democracy. I didn't see any of these horrid events and trends coming, even though I keep myself aware and thoughtful. Heaven help us.

WHAT IF IT IS A VIRUS

 

  

Since 2016 I have been completely confounded about how enough Americans living in strategic regions managed to vote for the worst imaginable candidate for president, resulting in him being elected.

How could anyone who took a few minutes to review that man's life, think that he would be the best thing for our country?

I'm not talking about politics. I'm talking about common sense and critical thinking.

Those people let their personal prejudices, frustrations, and fears override the thought of what is best for us as a whole. Is this how Germany went to the dark side in the early 20th century?

It is now 10 months since he was voted out of office, and still the cult mindset monopolizes the same demographics. They went so far as to attempt an insurrection at his bidding. And still, 8 months after that horrendous event, they have not slowed down.

I have wondered (only half in jest) if someone put some substance in the public drinking water which has affected half of our society. I have called the current national situation a cocktail of stupidity - failure of the educational system + the internet + media "commentators". Shaken, not stirred. Even with giving it that label, I am still mystified.

Today I sat down and began to read the 2006 novel World War Z by Max Brooks. It made me wonder, considering our 18 months battle to the death with the evolving variations of Covid-19, if there could be a virus affecting brains around the world, causing complete loss of empathy. Making autocracies look attractive.

Oh no, does that ridiculous thought mean that maybe I myself have been exposed to the T virus?

CONTAGION OF CEREBRAL DEFICITS

It's presenting on numerous levels now, blanketing the nation.

Early July, 2021. I just heard that last month 10,000 more Americans died of covid-19. Bizarrely, people all around the nation are behaving as if the pandemic is in the review mirror. Two years ago, if some horrible mishap had occurred and 10,000 U.S. citizens had perished from that cause, it would be deemed as one of the worst disasters in our history.

Last year, because of previous Russian interference in our federal election of 2016, and because the President of the United States began spouting that the upcoming election would be rigged (as he had also said in 2016), and so many of us were going to vote via mail-in ballots due to the pandemic, election officials everywhere were super vigilant about processing the election.

But ever since election night itself, the ousted president has claimed that there were election abnormalities everywhere, when in actuality they were nowhere. Officials in Georgia recorded him asking them to "find" him more votes. Then stunningly, knowing full well what he was doing, he egged on thousands of people to commit an unprecedented siege of our U.S. Capitol building. He tried for a coup! I can't describe adequately the level of anger and horror I felt that day. And eight months post election day he still refuses to stop spreading his lies. Most alarmingly, the majority of citizens who are registered with his party are actually believing his made up scenario.

 It is as if beginning in 2016, a compounding outbreak of ignorance and hate has spread through much of our country. This is way beyond disagreements of philosophy and/or politics. This is "We hate the other side and we'll do anything no matter how absurd or unthinkable to get the upper hand." This is "We played relatively nice to you know-it-all bleeding hearts for the past 50 years, but now we're going to roll back the clock". Maybe roll it all the way back to pre-United States of America days, if their dear leader could have his way.

I'm totally astounded by the black hearts and empty brains of so many of my fellow citizens. I have a deep sense of dread about all of this. Since we are the most heavily armed citizenry on Earth, I truly think that some form of civil war is not out of the question. I may be an old broad, but I would fight to the death in order for our democracy to survive. 

THE UNIMAGINABLE 2020

I have not written an essay in 2020 until now, not because I had nothing to say, but rather that my mind couldn't keep up with all its astonishing events. 

The year began with our country being severely split down the middle, both sides not being able or willing to understand the other's perspectives. It was and is like a cold civil war - families and friends finding that they dare not engage in conversation regarding our country's leadership.

Then the virus arrived, an epidemic the likes of which hadn't been seen on our continent in over a century. Every single one of us was and is in jeopardy. Only Hollywood disaster movies predicted anything near this scenario. But this is not entertaining in the least.

Unlike in all disaster movies, we didn't come together as one country to fight this viral enemy. And that in itself was another shock to the system. Again unlike in the movies, the scientists couldn't save the day for us. They were not allowed to. What a bad, bad movie we are starring in.

Epidemiologists have long warned us of such a public health threat. Stunningly this time it fell on the deaf ears of the federal administration. Our country wasn't in any way ready to face something like this. Not in practical terms, and not in psychological terms. Only the kooky prepper communities were ready to cope with the great societal disruption about to begin. 

Why so unprepared? I would estimate that about 30 years ago there was a change in the behavior of the American middle class. Sensible life planning became something in the rear view mirror. Go for it. Go for more. Go for it all. Take that risk. Worry about it all later.

The predicaments of poor national leadership and the arrival of a novel virus melded into a terrifying scenario.The off-the-wall president decided that after he had done maybe one symbolic move against the virus, that his next plan was to pretend that its momentum was not growing, that we were not all in great jeopardy. He was not about to let this ruin his presidency. His great skills as a salesman would make it all go away.

Then there are the people, the populace. A stunning number of them decided that they weren't about to let this "phony" virus threat dampen their freedoms and their lifestyles. Is this the unintended outcome of a prosperous life of freedom? Stupidity?

The Boomer generation has been a big disappointment. We started out with "stop the war", and "love one another". We turned out to be as war mongering, materialistic, and greedy as any generation could be. 

And I am now so disappointed in the American 21st century culture. The current young adult generation seems not to care whether or not they bring home the virus to mom and dad, grandma and grandpa. How did we raise such a selfish and stupid bunch of kids?

Our culture seems to be its own worst enemy, with the irony being that we have long thought of ourselves as the best of the best in the world. Look at us now.

Due to an archaic federal election system that we have been too unfocused to change, we now have the most dangerous leader we've ever experienced in our history. Not only did he bungle the response to this crisis, with the pandemic still in full swing he's trying to avoid the subject entirely in the run up to the election. 

But maybe he is smart - he figures that enough people are stupid enough to follow the shiny objects he's tossing out in front of us. I don't know what I'll do if we turn out to be that absolutely asinine again.

186,000

Meanwhile, luck and vigilance has kept my family and myself virus free.

Meanwhile, as of this writing 186,000 American souls are gone this year from Covid-19. 

Meanwhile, the virus- spreading Labor Day BBQ's are just days away, schools are gambling with the health of our children and trying to re-open, there is a deeply down and dirty battle for the presidency going on, and oh boy, here come the holidays! 

If I were a praying person, I would ask God to make sure we learn the lessons of 2020. That is, those of us who survive it.

WE'RE NOT AS NICE AS WE THINK

This is where it all started. An observant wolf found that being non-aggressive and hanging around the human camps was an easier and more reliable way to get food. Over the millennia these domesticated wolves through chance or through human scheme became whatever we needed them to be.

But then we couldn't stop tinkering with nature. Though many people state that they love dogs, we went ahead and created breeds of dogs that really shouldn't exist. And we created them only for our amusement.

Some can't breathe properly.

Some we've given disadvantages they can never overcome.

Some are given extremely burdensome coats. 

Some are made to be so tiny that they could be snapped up by a predator for lunch.

Some as puppies, we cut off their tails, not for any purpose other than conformity. Others we remove part of their ears.

Some we make so large that their total lifespans are shortened to as little as six to eight years. Because it's fun to have a big dog?

In some we find amusement that they are both disadvantaged and not so bright.

And some are celebrated for the mess they have become.

Though some of these dog breeds have historical claim to purpose - such as rodent hunting, herd guarding, or property protectors, most of them exist today merely to humor us. We love them but we have purposely made their lives needlessly cruel, with survival dependent upon us.

In some parts of the world the dog population has managed to revert to free roaming packs. Notice in this photo that there are no tiny dogs, overly fluffy dogs, or dogs with very short legs. Such dogs do not survive in real world circumstances. I don't think what we've done to dogs is a kind thing to do to a creature whom we claim to love.

THE BEAUTY OF COMMON SOULS

We cannot all be famous. We cannot all be highly talented. We cannot all be super intellects. We cannot all be brightly shining stars. We cannot all be great leaders. Most of us are the plasma of society.

And that is OK. We should realize that. It is more than OK. It is probably wonderful.

You might feel like a cog in a machine but it's a pretty fabulous mechanism we're living in overall, and you definitely help make it work for all of us in one way or another. Your ego may be bruised by that thought, but remember, you are but one of billions of souls inhabiting this planet.

You absolutely have within your grasp all the day-to-day tools that really count. A smile. A wave. A concern. A generosity of time. A sharing of knowledge and skills. A readiness to work with the team. An ability to laugh and play and love. These things are not headline makers, yet they are essential and invaluable in making our individual and community lives a treasure.

Most of us may not live in the spotlight . We may not win awards. But what unsung gems we are. How beautiful is that.