8.13.2020 – that they moved through time

that they moved through time
changed and changed and stayed the same
there, somewhere in time

Adapted from a passage in the book. Spartina, (1990, Avon Books, New York) by John Casey.

Mr. Casey wrote,

They all got mixed in, they stayed themselves. Permeable, yielding to each other, how could they stay themselves. The notion was as dizzying as the notion that time moved through them, that they moved through time. They changed and changed and stayed the same.

They were here, they were gone, they were somewhere in time. But if there was no time that mattered but the time that was inside them, then they’d be nowhere.

In celebration of 31 years of marriage to my dear friend.

We have changed and changed and stayed the same.

Here, gone, somewhere in time.

Together.

Love you.

8.7.2020 – just being friendly

just being friendly
recent action that needed
an explanation

Walking along the other evening, my wife and I came up behind a family on their way back from the park.

Their was a Mom and a Dad and three little boys.

They were pulling a wagon and one of the boys rode in the wagon facing backwards.

We were conscious of social distancing but a change in the lights at a cross walk brought us up close to together.

The little guy in the wagon stared right at me so I waved.

He waved back.

His brothers turned around to see who he was waving at and they both stared at me.

So I said, “hi guys, how are you all doing tonight?”

The boys just stared and me.

Never said a word.

The light changed and the family started across the street.

We held back to give them some distance.

But I heard one little boy, who was holding his Dad’s hand, say to his Dad, “Why did that man say that?”

His Dad kept walking and said, “He was just being friendly.”

So was this snotty little kids who are told to not talk to strangers?

And I admit, they won’t meet many stranger than me.

Or is there a generation growing up now that needs friendliness to be explained?

Social distancing.

Masks.

No contact.

Coming at a higher cost everyday.

8.3.2020 – always when I wake

always when I wake
mind struggles, unsuccessful
discover where am

In Book One, Swann’s Way of Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust writes;

Perhaps the immobility of the things that surround us is forced upon by our conviction that they are themselves, and not anything else, and by the immobility of our conceptions of them.

For it always happened that when I awoke like this , and my mind struggled in an unsuccessful attempt to discover where I was, everything would be moving around me through the darkness: things, places, years.

Everything would be moving around me

Through the darkness:

Things,

Places,

Years.

Seems to me that Mr. Proust lived through a Covid 19 multi month at home self pseudo quarantine.

The immobility of our conceptions.

What happened today, happened yesterday and will happen tomorrow.

7.27.2020 – ordinary folks

ordinary folks
most behaving well, just not
people in power

The story that seems to out there everyday that can wrap their minds around is that ordinary people are mostly behaving well.

On the other hand,

people in power are behaving appallingly,

panicking,

spreading rumors,

and themselves showing an eagerness to do nothing and a pathological lack of empathy.

Okay so I stole that line from an article about Katrina but the role of attirbutes came together to well to ignore.

For example, consider this from Twitter.

Oh COME ON GUYS.

7.25.2020 – the path most taken

the path most taken
Titanic mentality
the end doesn’t change

It seems to me that in the old show, F Troop, a comedy about the good old days in the US Cavalry in the post Civil War West, there was this ongoing gag.

One of the Native American characters was always reading a book on the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

At some point some one would say, “Are you reading that again?”

And the character would answer, “I like how it ends.”

Last night I was watching TV and low and behold a lady from where I live in Gwinnett County was on CNN.

She was telling the CNN Anchor why she and other parents wanted the schools here in Gwinnett, the nations 4th or 5th largest school district, to be open in a few weeks.

She said she felt she was on the Titanic and there was no room in the lifeboats for her and other people who felt like her.

Her comments stuck with me.

It comes to me that the Titanic is a great analogy for where this great county is right now.

All the technology you can ask for.

All the power and services you can ask for.

All the anything you could ask for.

And neighbors, let me tell you, the story ends the same way.

THE

SHIP

SINKS.

We can argue on the course that got us here.

We can argue about who gets in the lifeboats.

We can argue about how to launch the lifeboats.

But in the end.

The story ends the same way.

The

Ship

Sinks.

I am getting more and more used to the idea that WE ARE ON THE TITANIC.

We are sinking.

Congress seems to think we have time to argue about it.

A lot of people seems to think we have time to argue about it.

This morning on TV I heard what I think was a one time Sec of Treasury in another (GW BUSH, OBAMA) administration who said it wasn’t the amount of financial aid in the next the stimulus package it was the LENGTH OF TIME the package would be available.

I cling to that.

One voice saying look at the length of time here folks.

I feel like these arguments and discussions on payments, masks, schools, quarantine, social distancing and what not are important, but in the grand scheme, no one will care.

Why?

Because.

The

Ship

Sinks.

The end of the story stays the same.

Only this time, I do not think any one is going to like how the story ends.