masking

Sun 4.19.20

      We pretend -- we are Covid-19’s victims and it has permeated everything we touch, breathe, imbibe.  It’s just around the corner, waiting, waiting, to mow us down.  But the truth?  Why are people acting so weird?  Here are some stats on those who succumb to the virus:

The percentage of folks who die from the virus throughout the world is 6%

The percentage of folks who die from the virus in the U.S. is 5%

The percentage of folks who die from the virus in NYC is 7%

The percentage of folks who die from the virus in Maine is 3%

         The virus we are suffering from is not the corona virus, but it comes from some deep-seated understanding that the game is up.  We have reached the end of the road.  We live on borrowed time, borrowed money, borrowed life, and it is collapsing all around us.  I love that people are taking to their cars to protest their imprisonment, and that these protests are growing.  Enough of this madness, they say.  Those silly face masks can’t protect us.  What came first the financial bubble bursting or Covid-19?  It doesn’t matter because they both accomplish the same thing, which on some level was our Damocles’ sword ready to drop and smite us.  It’s over now, the sword has fallen.  The cultural, ethical, financial world we live in is bankrupt, and the small business owners who are the life force of the country do not want to get on the bus and take on more loans that eat what little profit is coming to them to cover present calamity.  It’s not worth it.  The theme on YouTube is ‘less is better.’  Lots of videos on tiny living spaces, sustainable farming, the best wood burning stoves on the market.  Someone asks, How will we live?  And goes on to talk about urban prepping and rural resilience’s momentum.  Then there are the grownups whose videos speak truth unvarnished, who tell you what you need to hear to keep yourself whole.  We knew it was coming and now the threat is over.  Nothing hanging over our heads, it’s here among us, the rows of empty shelves at the market, gone is the piped in music and the clerk’s “Have a nice day” has been replaced by, “Take care.”  Panicky folks cross the street to avoid you and you’ve been out of toilet paper for a month.  Every week you discover a different product is being hoarded.  The new world.  America’s values are up for a major change. I’m waiting for the really cool musician who will put it all to music.

The favorite essay this month has again been, A Live Moment