August, for me, was completely detached from July. They are not parts of the same summer. They are not different chapters in the same book but different chapters in different books. My vacation ended when August started. Began the month & ended the vacation by visiting friends at a beach on the Cape. First week of August was humid and blurry. Work made it blurry. I’ve admitted to myself that the second summer of Coronamageddon is harder than the first. Personally and professionally. I’m surprised by this.
Tennis. Colossal tennis. Humid, sweaty tennis.
Sporadic grief.
Bumps in our Coronamageddon road. Disco dog sick. Needing surgery. Worry. Worry. Worry. At the same time, we’re wearing masks at home and I’m sleeping in the basement due to Covid + coworker. Little stresses & strains don’t feel little anymore when the pile has gotten so big over the last 18 months. Things turned out ok. Surgery was avoided and no one else tested positive.
Worry is poison. Most of our worries are things that will never happen. Worry is our mind on autopilot. We can turn autopilot off and stop viewing everything thru our filters & interpretations. Seeing things for what they are without adding our own spin to it can reduce our worry.
Covid “boosters” aren’t even boosters (yet). They’re considered a third dose for the 3% of the population at highest risk. While some people are tripping over themselves and eagerly lying to get that third shot, other people are arguing and fighting about not wearing masks. I don’t understand the end game. What does an anti-masker hope to accomplish? Are they really just defending some imaginary idea of freedom even if that freedom will cause death? Is their fear of the uncontrollable so great that they are holding onto that freedom and idea of control that tightly? Better to die or spread lethal breath than to see any nuance. It’s not a black and white world. Guess it’s even harder to deal with reality if you think that it is.
The opinions of people who are factually wrong should not matter. If you say that gravity is not real it doesn’t change anything. When I jump, I don’t launch myself off the surface of the Earth into outer space just because someone told me that gravity is fake. Saying that masks are harmful is just as factually inaccurate as saying that gravity does not exist. Politicians, in the position to make decisions on this, show us what they’re made of when they consider the opinion of those who are wrong as strongly as they consider the facts. Most politicians are not trying to do their job and be leaders or do what is best for most of their constituents. They are out to cover their own asses, on the hunt for votes, and reelection. Discussing the best course of action in response to facts is useful. Discussing lies and falsehoods wastes our time and gives power to those who are wrong. People can have different opinions but facts are not opinions.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. We do not know if something is good or bad. Each choice flows along into other events that change the feel and meaning of previous choices and events.
As August ends, it feels like it was two months long yet I’m still surprised it’s over. High stress levels have become the norm. This has not been a chill summer.
“When you think the ends justify the means, there’s nothing you won’t do.”
If America starts pushing a “booster” dose of Covid vaccine for all the rich white people, we will be taking doses away from other countries. There are countries that only have a 5% vaccination rate. They need the vaccines. If other countries are not getting vaccinated, the virus will continue to mutate into new variants in those countries. Those new variants will eventually find their way to America and one of these variants will be able to beat our vaccine. We will die just like all the non-white unvaccinated countries. Our selfishness will not protect us, it will contribute to our downfall. I do not feel particularly upbeat about anything right now.
We have become a nation of selfish dumb-dumbs. When you hear stories about what Americans did during World War II, you hear stories of people coming together and making sacrifices for the greater good. What stories will be told about our response to this pandemic?