Some Inspiration For a Monday Morning

Today was supposed to be the day that my friend had reconstructive surgery. She had been preparing herself mentally, emotionally and physically for this day for months. So, because this is 2020, last night, while she was outside watering her plants she gets a call advising her that her surgeon has come down with something that might be COVID and is consequently quarantined for two weeks!! One more blow in a long and relentless series of blows that she has been forced to endure. This morning, we talked about it. I was nervous. I didn’t know quite what to say. I had no idea what kind of state she would be in after pondering it all night. Here’s what happened:

Me: Morning!

Pam: Good morning 

Me: ..stupid COVID

Pam: I know Johnny was disappointed too but I try to look at it this way... maybe it was Gods blessing or protection from something.  I just had chemo last Thursday.  It’s a lot for me body to endure.

Me: Thats true. I wasn’t too crazy about you having surgery so soon after chemo. Now you’ve got a couple weeks to get stronger.

Pam: I know so this gives me a week to rest. PTL.  I have a colonoscopy next Wednesday and echocardiogram on Thursday.  9 th an 10th so this week I plan on resting.

Me: I just hate this!!

Pam: Me too!   I was hoping to get this week an next behind me, chemo on 17th an then one more chemo on Oct 8   Now this puts everything 2 or more weeks behind so it will be late October before I’m through. But the end is in sight.

Me: Sometimes I think it would help me if you just lost it every once in a while and started screaming obscenities at me. I know that sounds stupid...but it’s true. Its all so unfair. I don’t understand why God is allowing this to happen to someone like you. I know that God’s ways aren’t our ways and all that but still...it makes me angry.

Pam: Lol won’t happen not my nature. I believe something good will come of it one day. I do a lot of walking an talking to God  and that’s how I hold myself together.

Me: Maybe there’s a reason I got involved in this...maybe he’s trying to teach me something. Who knows?

Pam: You never know.  I agree why in the world would you an me be talking every day for over a year.  Eventually we will know!   I appreciate you an all you have done more than you will ever know!...On a lighter note one of my neighbors brought me an Asian pear cake last night. OMG!!!  I bet I ate 3 pieces last night while slicing it to be stored in a Tupperware container.... already had a slice this morning.  So I am headed out for a morning walk to try and erase some of the damage I have done to my body. Happy Monday my friend to God be the glory!   Great things He has done!!!

Me: THAT’S IT!!! That’s why the surgery was cancelled!! So you could get the curative powers of Asian pear cake in your system!!!

Pam: 🙌🙌so I should eat more??

Me: YES! Oh..and you’re a pig. Three pieces while you were cutting it up??? Oink!

Pam: Yes horrible I know.  We never have cake in our home.  Johnny is a type 2 diabetic.  Sugar feeds cancer too so I never make them. Love cake,  pie, ice cream, milk shakes anything bad I love it.

Me: Well, that may be true, but when was the last time you had a neighbor show up at the door with a plate of asparagus?...“Here, I know you’re battling cancer so I thought you would like some vegetables!”

Pam: LOL! Exactly!!

And, just like that, she’s off to battle another day. She will go for her walk, talk with God, find her bearings, and keep grinding.

Jacob Blake

Jacob Blake. Kenosha, Wisconsin. Seven shots fired, point blank, in the back. Three nights of riots. Seventeen year old vigilante with a rifle murders two. NBA and MLB players cancel games. Blake paralyzed from the waist down. Trump to send National Guard to Kenosha.

Those are the salient facts of this latest racially charged encounter involving the police, a young African American, and someone with a cell phone. I believe it also is the issue upon which the 2020 election will be decided...are the American people more fed up with policemen using deadly force, or are they more fed up with watching their cities burn? 

The reaction to this latest shooting has been identical to every other high profile case of its kind. One side bemoans the use of deadly force against an unarmed and outnumbered citizen and asks questions like, seven shots in the back? Couldn’t three police officers have subdued one skinny guy without resorted to gunfire? The other side points out the criminal record of Mr. Blake, the fact that he had just recently been arrested on a sexual assault charge, that he was dangerous and may have been reaching for a knife, and who are we to criticize the police who do a dangerous job in terrible circumstances every day? Nothing ever changes. Nothing seems capable of moving the needle, even high profile multi-millionaire athletes, playing in front of cardboard cutout crowds, walking off the job in dramatic fashion. We become further entrenched. Their tears are immediately branded as of the crocodile variety. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson suggests that we shouldn’t be surprised that teenagers emerge with rifles to restore order since no one else seems willing to do the job.

Joe Biden and the Democrats point to Jacob Blake and say, See? See what will happen if you re-elect Trump?

Donald Trump and the Republicans point to Kenosha, Wisconsin and say, See? See what will happen if you elect Joe Biden?

So, what do I think? 

I think that to shoot a man in the back seven times is an abomination and the fact that it continues to happen is a disgrace, representing a complete failure of training and temperament and an abuse of authority. I think that the continued destruction of our cities, the looting and burning of businesses brave enough to locate in our inner cities in the first place is also a disgrace. For any of this to be fixed will require a combination of empathy, resolute action, and brave leadership. I see little of these qualities on the political horizon. Accordingly, it will take men and women of good will and good faith to step up, filling the gaping leadership vacuum of the moment, ordinary citizens reaching out to the other side in humility and grace, saying...We are tired of the hate. We have grown weary of the violence. We’re tired of politicians pitted us against each other. Come, let us reason together. Let us find a way out of this dark place. Some are doing just that, but their voices can’t be heard over all the screaming.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

In my continuing effort to raise awareness of the dangers of COVID, today I have a word for all of my friends who play the game of golf. Precautions need to be taken by all golfers at all times to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. To that end, let this timely tip serve as a warning and a reminder:

Hat tip to my friend, Tom Allen, for this public service announcement.

“Doug, what’s with all the jokes?”

It would be easy to write a post about Jerry Falwell this morning. For someone with my gift for irreverent snark, that post would practically write itself. There’s a part of me that would take great pleasure in doing so. But that’s the part of me that I don’t like very much. So, I will leave that blogpost to others. 

Instead, I would like to address a subject that I have been asked about in subtle and not so subtle ways of late...How come you post so many stupid jokes on Facebook and on your blog when there are so many horrible things going on in the world? Let me begin by answering the question. I do so precisely because there are so many horrible things going on in the world.

I don’t live in some hermetically sealed bubble. I am fully aware of the severities of the moment. COVID, racial unrest, politics, our poisoned discourse...all of it. But, my understanding of history is that every generation that has ever lived has experienced their own difficulties, most worse than this. Frankly, most far worse than this. If you don’t believe me, pick up a history book and read about what daily life was like 100, 200, 500 years ago, or if you’re not into reading, watch a show like The Last Kingdom for a taste of what it was like to exist in the 9th century...then get back to me on how horrible we have it in the United States in 2020.

Here’s the thing, when you’re in a mess, sometimes all you can see is the mess. It’s so easy to be blinded to the opportunities right in front of your eyes. Here we are in 2020, most of us carrying around the accumulated wisdom and knowledge from over 6000 years of the human experience in the palms of our hands. In America, food is cheaper and more plentiful than it has ever been in the history of civilization. We have access through any internet connection to products from literally every corner of the globe at our fingertips. We live and work in buildings with central air, heat and indoor plumbing, all things non-existent a mere 75 years ago and for all of human history that has proceeded us. Diseases that routinely killed hundreds of thousands of people in the past are treated with over the counter medicines that cost less than five bucks. The vast majority of us have the ability to get in a car and relocate ourselves from one side of the country to another, without a dangerous and often deadly three month slog through the wilderness. We open the taps of the lowliest kitchen sink in America and clean drinking water comes out (unless you live in Flint, Mich.). Any idiot with a cellphone can conceive of the lamest idea for a video, watch it go viral and start making a living on the internet, all without even a high school education. So, while America is certainly a screwed up place at this moment, it is still, by almost any definition, a land of great opportunity. And, I’ve got news for all of you doom-sayers out there...it will continue to be so no matter which guy wins in November. 

So, yes, we can and should do better as a country. We can and should do better by each other. But, sometimes, the amplifying power of the 24/7 news cycle and the omnipresent stream of bad news and bad faith arguments on social media can turn even the most ardent optimist into a weeping prophet. When I feel it beginning to happen to me, that’s when I break out the jokes. I don’t do it to escape the unpleasantness, but rather to remind myself and all of you that there is something better just beyond the mess. So, the next time you see some lame dad jokes here, take a break from whatever it is that has you so vexed and remind yourself how lucky you are to be alive.

It’s Complicated

COVID and all of the related angst and upheaval it has visited upon the world has turned 2020 into the dark punch line of a joke that nobody laughs at or understands. It has touched every corner of our lives in one way or another. When combined with the racial unrest and resulting violence and destruction in America’s cities that it has spawned, a dystopian stench has attached itself to 2020 and it becomes stronger every day. But...it’s not the Great Depression, it’s not World War II. Heck, it’s not even 1968 Newark, New Jersey. But, it’s something.

Much is currently being made of a poll that was taken about the “acceptability” of the number of deaths from the Coronavirus. Seems like a strange question, and I would love to see the exact wording of the question, but nevertheless, 57% of republicans say that the current number of deaths via COVID are acceptable. This has prompted a great hue and cry from many quarters. I am awfully glad that I was not asked this question, because it would have left me in a gigantic quandary of conflicting thoughts. The pollster would probably have fallen asleep before I was able to answer the question. I would have peppered him or her with many questions of my own, primarily, compared to what?

Last year, in the United States there were 170,000 accidental deaths, ie deaths that were unintentional, many job related, most of them motor vehicle accidents. I would imagine to the families of these 170,000 souls, not a single one would have been acceptable. But, what about to the nation as a whole? Considering how much physical work gets done in this country every year, considering the millions of miles that Americans drive every year, 170,000 deaths would be considered acceptable as a natural consequence of human activity. I doubt there would be any calls for parking our cars, or avoiding work because of the potential for fatal accidents. However, nobody would object to precautions taken to lessen the number of such accidents through things like seat belts, airbags, driving slower, and work place safety measures.

When it comes to COVID deaths, 174,000 deaths over the past six months is a lot of death. Moreover, unlike car accidents or falling off os a scaffold on a construction site, COVID is contagious. Anything that is so seems scarier. But, to those who say, this amount of deaths is unacceptable, what does that mean exactly? Do they mean that 174,000 deaths from COVID could have been avoided with some different policy provisions? Perhaps if we had followed New Zealand’s example, we could have saved many lives? New Zealand is home to 4.5 million people, similar to the population of Kentucky. Yet, its land area would cover the east coast from Florida to Pennsylvania. New Zealand isn’t a financial center of the world. New Zealand doesn’t have people from all over the world traveling to and from its shores. Maybe what worked for New Zealand is impractical for us, maybe not. But isn’t context important? 

If the point of the poll question is How many deaths from a currently incurable disease is acceptable in the context of a free society with a trillion dollar economy, then I might be inclined to answer...yes. One has to answer another question, it seems to me...what amount of destruction of businesses, increased domestic violence, increased suicides, along with rises in mental health problems are acceptable as the alternative? The question of risk always involves trade offs. If you shut down a nation as large and economically consequential as ours, attempt to quarantine 300 million people as volatile as us, you are basically accepting the above risks as more desirable than the loss of 174,000 people from COVID. That’s an entirely fair and justifiable position to take, and I’m not saying you are wrong to think so. But, the question seems over simplified. Perhaps some of the folks who answered the poll question had these trade offs in mind. Maybe some of them thought the question a strange one. Or, maybe some of them are heartless money-grabbers who care nothing about deaths. Who knows? What would have been my answer? Probably something like....it’s complicated!!

Greatest Headline Ever

Every now and then I see a headline on the Drudge Report that gets my undivided attention. This morning it was this one:

Pecker Out At National Enquirer 

I think, Well sure...its the Enquirer! Then I read further and decide that this might be the greatest headline of the year. CEO of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, has stepped down after a merger of the company with A360, LLC.

These days we have to find laughter anywhere we can.

So, the Democratic convention is over, and from what I have read Joe Biden gave a good speech. The Obama’s gave speeches, as did the Clinton’s. Lots of other people gave short speech-etts. The consensus opinion seems to be that the first virtual political convention was pulled off rather well, considering the fact that it had never been tried before. Next up will be the Republicans, who will attempt the same thing, albeit with far inferior star power. They won’t have any beautiful actresses, handsome actors and hip entertainers to glitz up the proceedings, unless you still consider the dude who played Chachi on Happy Days glitzy. But, the Republicans have never been able to compete with the stranglehold that the other side has on Hollywood. All of the beautiful people are always Democrats. Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped Lincoln’s party from winning elections, so maybe it doesn’t matter. 

As of this morning there are 80 days until Election Day.

It’s going to be excruciating.

Revolution?

In August of 1968, Americans were jolted by two disturbing images on their television sets. The first was from Chicago as policemen violently clashed with protesters in the streets outside the Democratic National Convention. The second was the appearance of Soviet tanks rumbling through the streets of Prague, Czechoslovakia crushing the nascent Prague Spring movement. It seemed that the world was coming apart, the streets filled with discontent and blood. Three months later, The Beatles released Revolution, John Lennon’s reaction to the violence and chaos. Some on the left praised his commitment to peaceful protest and non-violence. Others were shocked and disappointed. You be the judge:

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be 
All right, all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be 
All right, all right, all right

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead

But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be 

An observation or two 52 years later...

First of all, how in the world has it been 52 years since this song was released? Secondly, in my opinion, it’s remarkable how well these sentiments have held up. I’m still not interested in—giving money for people with minds that hate. My attitude towards destruction remains—count me out. And frankly, I’m still waiting—to see the plan. But most of all, I still turn away in disgust for people who do the 2020 equivalent of—go around carrying pictures of Chairman Mao.

But, aside from the lyrics, Revolution was a rocking great tune that still makes me want to crank up the volume, roll down the windows and sing at the top of my lungs!