A friend read my posting on Endings the other day. He liked it, but then . . . he awaited the next posting. Nineteen days later, he was still awaiting that posting. Then he asked me, “So, you’re not finished writing are you? The Endings piece was nice, but hopefully it does not mean an end to your writings?”
And, oddly perhaps, I had not thought of that piece as a
conclusive end to my writing. I suppose
COVID, or even just Old Age will finally draw that writing thing to a
close. Just not right now, I hope.
But I must confess that writing anything about our world
right now, is difficult. What do we have
going on?
COVIDIOCY – The COVID thing seems
to hang in every room of my little mind. Every time I think I want to do
something, I have to prepare myself, either to not do it at all, or to don a
mask and gloves, and then to remain as far away from other humans as
possible. But, see, if a major part of
the point of “doing something” is to see people, then what am I doing, disguising
myself with masks and gloves so no one can actually see me, no less hear me. We
go to a weekly farmers market. It used to be a source of joy, chatting with our
farm friends who supply us with amazing, fresh food. They keep us alive through
their hard work, and chatting with them, so as to thank them is the least we
can do. Well, we try, but staying 6-8 feet away, and speaking through a mask
does not a proper conversation make. We try to laugh, but how would anyone
know? And then our family wants to get together, to share a meal and just chat.
But everyone, including our family must be treated as a risk assembly. And that
is hard, for us and for them. And if all this COVIDIOCY was going to just stop
soon, I guess we could all just grin and bear it. But it isn’t, it actually may
never end. When we have a vaccine, I guess we will be safe . . . won’t we?? Or maybe not. Who knows? The Shadow doesn’t
even pretend to know.
Donald Trump – It has become very
difficult to write anything halfway intelligent regarding our nation under
Donald Trump. His stupidities know no end. He just goes on and on, seeming ever
more terminally stupid than the last time he opened his mouth. Lately, he seems to think that the flu
epidemic of 1918 (he thinks it was in 1917) ended World War II, because all the
soldiers got sick. Now think of that. He
actually said that. And he wasn’t joking. He simply seems to know nothing. He just
reacts. A pseudo-thought pops into his head and he either says it, if he has an
audience, or he tweets it (ahh, Twitter, the communications system for people
who can’t communicate). And he just
keeps not leading, not preparing our nation. Instead, he keeps insulting our
intelligence by saying stupid things, most of which are simply lies. And
everyone knows when he is lying, but no one ever says anything any longer. I
don’t know, have we now stopped counting his lies?? He has redefined “normal”,
because he is abnormal . . . all the time. Yeah, that’s right. He is simply not
“normal” by any reasonable definition of that term. And what is most
distressing, is apparently his abnormal behavior is what keeps his supporters
in line. Yeah, they apparently hate “normal”.
They love someone who hates almost everyone and everything, cuz that’s who they
are also. His supporters love to hate.
They hate normality and normal people.
It’s why his rallies are filled with an excess of hateful rhetoric. And so, when Trump speaks, or Tweets, they
all stand up and applaud. If he says
something hateful or threatening, they laugh and cheer. And so, he has
redefined America and Americans. And I
really do not like that redefinition.
Were I a 20 something, I would almost definitely be looking to move
somewhere far away from America. And,
why?? Well, because he has so redefined America and Americans that he might
well succeed in winning the next election, even if by stealth and
corruption. We know he will try to
prevent opposing forces from voting by any means possible. Republicans now do
so hate voting and people who vote. His
latest apparently is to try to kill the US Postal Service, first by removing
its funding base, and secondly by appointing someone to head the Service whose sole
mission seems to be to kill the Service. Yeah, so there’s that.
Aging in Place -- So, I am now heading towards 86, or my 47th
39th year of existence. I have already chatted about one our
favorite TV British “comedies”, Waiting for God. It’s all about old, cranky people who live in
an elder home and sit around waiting for that final notice—you know, where you
wake up and it turns out that you actually failed to awaken, mainly because you
failed to continue breathing. And so your mind went blank. And then they come
to cart off your now useless body, but you don’t know it, because you no longer
know anything. You know, that Waiting
for God. Yeah, that Aging in Place
thing. And partly the COVIDIOCY helps to make this final life stage less than
ideal, because you can’t really do anything. As noted, it’s hard even to see
anyone, because everyone is wearing a mask and you can’t touch anyone. And a side effect of the Pandemic is that it
has closed off activities that could serve to amuse or enlighten you, as you “Age
in Place”. For example, Carol continues
her beautiful quilting, but the Pandemic has placed certain cautions on
everything, such that the local Children’s hospital can’t accept donated quilts
for their sick kids. So, now she has to
be even more innovative in finding places to donate her beautiful
creations. And I used to at least
pretend to create artsy things, you know pictures that I could print and then
display at events called Art Walks. And those events would provide me with some
positive feedback, even to the odd sale of a piece or two. But those events have
ceased, mainly because large gatherings are now a No-No. One must not gather is
the latest theme of America . . . well the world really. Apparently stupid people are exempted from
that dictum. They continue to gather, as stupid people will—see the motorcycle
gathering in Sturgis, South Dakota. And
I imagine these folks will all arise on the morning of November 3rd,
and go to their polling places and vote for Donald Trump, cuz he’s their man.
They love hating and they love stupid.
And so each day blends into the
next, and life continues, until I assume it stops. But, I was thinking the other day about all
that. You know, how, when someone “passes into the next life”, there is always
someone who will say, “well they are now looking down on us and smiling”. And I
think, “Well no, they aren’t sitting up on a cloud looking down. They actually
aren’t thinking or watching, because they no longer exist in any form.” And then I think:
Every person on earth should
consider the wonder, and the magnificent beauty that is LIFE. Each time you
awaken, and your eyes open, and you see something, anything . . . the bedroom,
the wall, a window, perhaps a pet cat who is sitting staring at you, hoping you
will awaken . . . you should think of
the beauty of that moment. You are alive. You can see the wonder that is our
world. Just that . . . seeing our world
once again, is cause for saying “thank you” to whatever natural forces cause you
to exist still. And try to spend your
day such that at least several times each day, you just look, and think, “wow,
how wonderful is life”. Yes, it will cease some day, but for today, it continues,
and Life is a beautiful gift. Please do not squander that gift by hating other
people. Love is All. Practice the Art of Love. Every day, in every way, practice Loving.
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