It’s going to be a weird summer. For the first time in 32 years, there will be no international travel – no summer visit to YiaYia this time. It’s possible that the adult men will travel in September. Unfortunately, I do not have any vacation days due to my job change.
On top of this, I was late in getting my kids their immunizations, apparently. Scramble time! Apparently they were supposed to have another round in October of last year. You would have thought someone would have told me that last summer! But nope. That didn’t happen. So now we scramble.
One kid is going away for 5 days with an equally sequestered family; the other one has no summer plans and the oldest is back to work. And the European Union is now saying that they will not allow travelers from the US because the government has not taken controlling the coronavirus seriously. No shit. So even if we wanted to go to, we cannot, for sure. And I think there is a little matter of a US ban on European travelers that has yet to be lifted on our side, in addition to spiking cases.
I am beginning to be hopeful for a complete upset in November. The administration continues its lack of response to the coronavirus death march across the country; claims to never have been briefed on a Russian plan to murder US troops for a bounty; retweeting white supremacist rants…people, save the die-hard racist thug contingent, are tired of the insanity and the imbalance. We’re tired, and yet, we cannot stop the fight. Everything is at stake. Complacency at this point would assure a victory for the crime syndicate known as the current administration. Listen, I know Uncle Joe has his issues. In comparison to the one-man crime wave in the White House, Uncle Joe is kind, decent, patriotic and in touch with everyone (although rumor has it that this is literal.) America needs an Uncle Joe right now. (Remember, what is currently in the WH makes W look like a statesman; next to that guy, Joe is a saint. We are in deep shit, people.)
I’ve been trying to finish this post for a week now; I change the day number, write a paragraph and then don’t finish the post. I’m not sure why. I have plenty to opine about. The kid that went away is now back, and attending her first soccer practice since March. There is thunder in the distance, though it is difficult to tell if rain will accompany it or not. The lawn is still a patchwork of brown and green interspersed with tall weeds, so rain would be a good thing. As I write this, the thunder gets louder and the sky gets darker. Occasional lightning streaks across the sky.
I know this is not why you have come here; do you really care about my lawn and the weather forecast? I doubt it. Let’s get to what’s going on in the world.
I recommend Heather Cox Richardson as a guidepost to what is happening in the world and how current events are viewed through a historian’s lens. If you follow me on Facebook, I faithfully re-post her daily synopsis of the news to help my friends stay up to date. This period in history will be written about, analyzed and dissected for decades to come. Future students of history will shake their heads in wonder at our collective stupidity, overt racism, treasonous behavior of our leaders and their fascist tendencies. They will write dissertations on how an entire nation allowed itself to be conned, then decimated by ineptitude in the face of a public health crisis of epic proportion, while confronting embedded, systemic racism that permeates every facet of society. And still, as has always been the case, no one will learn from history, and it will repeat itself.
I am hopeful that people are just fed up enough to rout the scum from the halls of government; upend the police-state status quo; consistently and continuously show up for one another as equals.
We had better. Our very nation depends on it.
Well said, Sheila. Thank you. We should be better. Let’s hope every last American soul VOTES IN NOVEMBER.