COVID-19 Journal

We are still well. No signs of the virus. We remain engaged with life – reading, napping, communicating with others, using our brains, writing blogs, and exploring movies and concerts online. All of this keeps us alert and involved with others.


Yes, we keep up with the news, but that is hard to do objectively these days. Too many people shouting their beliefs in direct opposition to mine, or yours. I tune them out. If they make cogent, logical statements, then we can communicate. Otherwise, not.


The press plays many roles. One is reporting events that have happened. Later, when investigations are complete, the reasons for the events ought to be provided. If causation is in dispute, layout all of those points of view. Do not provide your hunch to the mix unless you are truly providing research and source material that has authority in the issue at hand. Otherwise, maintain professional silence.


The press should not be a player in the making of the news UNLESS someone is found creating the news for their own benefit at the expense of others. That is when the press needs to be investigative and critical in its questioning of the principals in the matter. In fact, that is the role of maintaining an honest government serving the long term needs of the people. A free and open press is an important check and balance to government at all levels.


Modern press machinery includes specialized branches of news reporting – sports, financials, medicine, arts and entertainment, education, technology, sciences, politics and government, and much, much more. Taken separately, these news ‘departments’ often make news of their own. One headline Monday of this week: This is America’s Week of Economic Reality. Really?


Look, we have a natural disaster occurring around the globe. It is affecting the United States currently. We saw it coming, experienced the early effects, and now we are engaged fully with the brunt of the epidemic. It is real. It is uncomfortable. It is lethal.


While that is going on we make natural adjustments to how we live to survive the pandemic. Some of those things affect functioning of government, banking institutions, the economy, sports, and arts and entertainment. And education. That does not include the shutdown of our brains and bodies.


The pandemic has its effect on our bodies and our social institutions. That’s a reality. Whatever happens we will survive, or most of us will. The rest of the fallout we will deal with as it happens. Like we always do.

Keen minds and hearts will navigate the choppy waters throughout whatever happens. Like getting over a hurricane or tornado, we clean up, clear away, reorganize, and rebuild. Same with the economy. The equipment is still here. The people are still here. Intelligence and experience remains aplenty to reassemble working models of the economy. All will be back to a new normal soon enough.


What that normal will be depends on how we use this pivot point to invent new and better routines for our nation and people. We are all a part of that. We all play a role in that.


All that remains is our stepping up when the time calls us.


March 31, 2020

Virus Journal Continues

The journey wanders on. Inch by inch, minute by minute. It is a process of time seeding forward in my mind, seeking clarity of purpose, of discovery, of meaning.


Journaling helps me do that. perhaps it is of use to others who read it. Maybe not. For those, they might choose to write their own journey.


It is raining this Sunday morning. Gloomy fully describes our surrounds. Has for days. Writing helps the brain function. Reading does as well. The rest of the time is filled with naps, minor chores, and binge watching TV.


Yesterday we watched a good documentary on the life and talents of Luciano Pavarotti. The music was magnificent. And we turned up our surround sound system to take full advantage of Pavarotti’s incredible voice.


Then we watched ‘Green Book’, nominated in many categories for Academy Awards. Excellent film. True story. Heartbreaking at times, exquisitely articulate at times. The music, too, was superb. This is a quality film, script, acting and message. Our society still harbors its racism as it did in the 60’s. Uncomfortable fact but one we must face squarely if we are to progress as a worthy human race.


We spent nearly 3 hours in the evening watching ‘The Horse Whisperer’ with Robert Redford. Long film; complicated story; a story of developing personalities both human and animal. The bonds between the two are amazing. The story takes place in Montana. Breathtaking scenery that is the perfect backdrop to a story of simplifying life to its basic and why it is so important. Stripping away the complications we add to life only blocks our appreciation of what truly matters.


Thanks to Comcast’s Xfinity services. During this quarantine, they have made a large swath of their premium channels available for free. Finding worthy viewing material is not easy. Most video entertainment focuses on the lowest common denominator. British TV and films seem to be the exact opposite. Wonder why? Well, that would start a good discussion, wouldn’t it?


Foreign films have worthy material, too, but then either the dubbing is poor and distracting, or printed subtitles rob the acting scenes of their fine points; very distracting.


I know America makes good movies and TV fare. I watch a lot of it. The problem: too much of the whole of this industry produces junk for a population seeking entertainment rather than edification.


I’m reading authors these days I needed to catch up on. A Kindle helps greatly. The library is loaded with 1000 titles to explore. Yum!


From my home office window, I’m not certain, but I think I’m beginning to see distant trees budding. Might this be fanciful thinking? Or might this truly be spring knocking on our door? Time will tell. We have plenty of that to watch the world change outside our window.


March 30, 2020

Covid-19 Journal

In spite of everything going on in the world and at hospitals everywhere, life goes on.


I am a futurist and optimist. That’s my basic orientation to life. If you see me as negative and critical, you’ve missed the real point of who and what I am.


As reported the other day, I learned that the elder couple I have been helping entered a new and dire situation. The husband/father/brother was placed in hospice at the hospital. He died shortly thereafter. He had had a second operation but three or more systems in his body shut down rapidly. The end came quickly. Because of the surrounding pandemic, no visitors were allowed in to see him. He was weak and able to speak by phone only with assistance from the nurse. His daughter spoke with him, but he died while I waited to speak with him.


Meanwhile, his wife is safe and sound in a nursing home. Her dementia worsens and insulates her from her husband’s drama just a few miles away in hospital. She can not live alone. She needs experienced healthcare staff to navigate daily life.


I informed their landlord of the situation. I discussed these matters with the only offspring who can take responsibility for her parents’ affairs. She is understandably bereft and in grieving. And she is alone as well; not just because of Covid-19, but the men in her life have abandoned her with the kids, she alone owns and runs two businesses, and attempts to handle family affairs with one brother and three sisters who will not get involved. So sad. A family tragedy long in the making. Forever an open wound.


Work on church projects continue. We struggle to produce good results from efforts hampered by remote connections rather than face to face. We learn how to do this; always learning. Not a natural manner in which to live. We are rapidly planning new ways to deal with Holy Week, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. Electronic broadcasting of course, but maybe an outdoor service with attendees sitting in their closed cars observing a symbolic service in the parking lot. We’ll see how that works!


Church service today is electronic over our Facebook page. What went wrong last week was fixed and the service today should go quite well. Thanks to all who make that happen. Such technical prowess we have among us!


A friend and neighbor shared the following snippet from John F. Kennedy’s speech he was going to give the day he was assassinated; it’s words are haunting and especially meaningful for us today:

 “Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed. And our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to the nation, and, indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power, but the preservation of peace and freedom.

So let us not be petty when our cause is so great. Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation’s future is at stake.

Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause — united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future — and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and abundance.”

The nature of the past, present and future is a reminder that we are the first to chart unknown regions of our nation or global village. In this season of hope and expectation, let us rejoice in the potential we can make happen in our lifetime.

March 29, 2020

Vulnerable and Creative

Yesterday I wrote of being vulnerable. Today I take another step forward. How does being vulnerable lead to creativity?


Simple. When I am vulnerable, I feel the world around me; I feel the needs around me, not my needs, but others’. In that state of awareness, I can see, hear, smell and feel much more. Those senses are input to my thinking and knowing the moment. In such times I am able to work with all the components of a problem or need. Responding to that gestalt allows me to think broadly on possible solutions.


The intersection of reality and the brain is stimulus for creative thinking.


If a team is in synch with each other they will feed off each other and expand the intersection with creativity. But first they must trust one another in their vulnerability. Can they? Do they? If not, they will accomplish little together.


Creativity is a process. Knowing an issue or a problem; fully understanding it. Realizing the need for change. Envisioning what would be a better outcome. ‘Seeing’ those possibilities, those desired outcomes. Next comes imagining how to get from the present to the desired end result. Working backwards from that point is tactical. The former is strategic.


This type of thinking and acting comes only in a safe place. For one or many persons, safety must embrace all of our vulnerabilities if we are free to create.


These are not easy things to live with or be a part of. Trust is not easy. Mutual trust is very difficult to have and retain with others. Without trust, work teams may accomplish tactical tasks but not strategic transformations. The latter is what we all need going forward.


So how do we gain trust? That’s a great question! Here are some dependencies to do that:

1.      In a team setting (family, friends, work, association, church, etc.) state openly whether you feel safe or not.

2.      Encourage others to match your statement with their own sense of safety.

3.      Discuss with the team your vulnerabilities and need for acceptance. Exercise courage to do this; let its presence speak of your honesty.

4.      It they are seeking safety they will respond with their own vulnerabilities.

5.      This will build a bond of honesty. If not, then the team is wounded and unable to fully complete its task.

This is what it takes to live in The Brave New World. If that is your desire, prepare for hard work and risk taking. But relish the results! I think you will be amazed.


March 28, 2020

Vulnerabilities

I know I’m safe when I can be myself. I feel safe when the people around me accept me for who and what I am. No judgments. Just acceptance.


In that space/place, I can be vulnerable. I can give witness to my flaws and shortcomings. I can be the real me with all my hurts, weaknesses, and fears. These are the things with me always; I must learn to live with them and surpass them. It is the struggle I face; I suspect it is the same with most people.


Vulnerabilities are a special gift. The ache hones my senses to remain honest. My senses are open to the pain of others. Our humanness is better understood in those moments. It is something we can share without retribution.


The opposite is true also. If I am not safe with my vulnerabilities in some settings, then I am distant from others. They sense it; I feel it. Our communication is not totally honest. We are guarded. Something is off. We are not able to be ourselves with each other.


Feeling safe should be present in alone time with myself; also with my significant other; and close family members. Best friends are included here as well.


Hopefully my workspace is where I feel safe, but then career competition makes that difficult. The best working relationships are those where the players are synched with their personalities and vulnerabilities, their mutual trust. Great things are accomplished by such teams of people.


Church is a place of hope – hope for love, acceptance and safety of self.


Is your church that kind of place? Do you feel safe there? Are the people accepting of you or merely tolerant? Can you tell the difference? Are you welcomed? Do you feel affirmed? Does the worship message and espoused creed embrace you? Fulfill you? Enable your full being to step forward into the potential of life? Is there an active effort for the church to make each person welcome in their midst?

If you feel safe there, that's great. However, if church attendance is dwindling, the message may be your church is failing to truly welcome the walking wounded. That would be all of us. None of us are perfect or free of wounds.

The answer is: love one another. Love others as you would want them to love you. Do this and watch your church grow and prosper.

The same principle ought to be operable throughout our society. None are perfect. All are worthy.

Think about our mutual vulnerabilities in the many hours at home we now have during this pandemic.


Amen!


March 27, 2020

Time to Think; Create

Before the Coronavirus our church was dealing with challenges that most congregations do. Stagnating membership numbers, worship attendance decline, tightening budgets. These topics have been under discussion for some time. Urgency was added to these discussions as longer term solutions were needed. That conclusion came slowly. The time to act, however, was understood as now.


Immediate actions were taken but so too, were new pathways of thinking about the long-term future of our congregation. We know we have something special. We are family. We enjoy being together. We share faith and fun and life seamlessly.


Truth be told, the problems our church faces are the very same ones that called me to seminary in 1968. That’s 52 years ago. Over the past half century, a lot was accomplished, but a lot was failed, too. For one, our nation has a deep thread of racism that remains in our subconsciousness and consciousness. I can say that, because 1968 was a year of assassinations, political upheaval, cultural change and stark racism. At the time I felt only a deep, personal conviction of social values supported and energized by churches could get at the cause of these problems. So, I entered the seminary to do something about it.


That didn’t work out so well. I returned to a career but one of helping people. Human Resource management was one theme. Higher education and student development and leadership was another theme. Nonprofit organizations was still another theme that wedded my interests in producing outcomes that were of benefit to others on a self-sustaining basis. All of these assignments fed my passions. I was satisfied.


But much to my horror, 52 years later, I find a society still rooted in racism and white supremacy. I find a selfish and greedy society focused on building wealth any way it can regardless of its cost to others. So, people pursue power for the sole purpose of finding money for themselves and their family. We have not returned to assassinations, yet, but I fear that is coming. Meanwhile, character assassinations rage.


Nothing will change unless we fundamentally change our thinking. That can only happen if we honestly open our minds and emotions to the possibilities of being with and working with other people. It will help if we make those others different than ourselves. We must see the world in all of its diversity and humanity. That vision helps place everything in a healthy perspective.


Life is about all of us. Not just me, I, or you. Not a narrow family of relatives and friends. Or neighbors. All of us. All nations. All ethnicities. All religions and social mores. Much we do not know or understand. We can only make a dent in that by exploring the whole world. Not just our own narrow existence.


The church is a way forward in that exploration. An honest exploration of inclusion and diversity. Not to do that is walking away from the challenge. It is uncomfortable but vital to do.


We have the time today in our sheltering mode to think on these things and create new possibilities. Think of the outcomes desired sometime in the future. Then work backward to find a way to them eventually.


We are creative. We are educated. We know how to think and learn. Let’s practice doing all of that together in one process and see what results. Pick a problem you are most curious about and think on ways to resolve it.


I’m engaged in doing this daily. How about you?


March 26, 2020

Bailouts

Afghanistan war cost $1 trillion. Iraq war cost $1.5 to 2 trillion. Tax cuts to corporations and the rich cost over $1 trillion. That’s upwards of $4 trillion by my accounting. Manufactures of war materiel, military industrial complex, rich people, Wall Street and corporations all benefitted from this public largesse.


Now, take a look at what we spend on social programs. Medicare and Social Security do not enter the calculations here; they are paid for completely from tax/premium collections from workers and employers. A huge trust fund has accumulated for both programs. When critics claim these programs are running out of money, that is not true. Cash maybe, but Congress has borrowed heavily from the trust funds for generations. It is where they find ready cash to borrow. And the interest they pay is much lower than what you and I and corporations pay when borrowing money.


So, the so called entitlements are not that; they are instead insurance programs paid for directly by employers and workers in equal part. The abusers are Congress and their rampant borrowing without paying the trust funds back.


Now, most likely, less than 15% of all federal government expenditures are earmarked for social programs. These are the programs that make up the safety net of Medicaid, housing, healthcare, transportation and food for the poor, disabled and impoverished elderly. We take care of our own, right? Or do we?


What is the value of our core values? It seems not much. Democrats fight to shore up social safety net programs when they can, but republicans tear down such programs.


Now that we have a true national emergency – the pandemic – that threatens each and every one of us, then more socialism is demanded by conservatives to save them. They want the corporate bailouts. They want the mortgage and personal loan hiatus programs. Yes, they want the direct checks to them as well. They who need it the least have their hands out for public funds.


Now that, folks, is socialism. Not communism. Not creeping socialism. But socialism in the raw.

When its for them, it’s OK. When it is for others, it is wrong.


I think I get it now. I understand the smug faces of republicans. They have gamed the system for decades and thought we were not paying attention.


Guess again schmoes. We see you clearly. We hear you clearly.


Please get out of our yard!


March 25, 2020

Little Things

Awoke this morning at 5 am. Went to bed last night at 8:45. More than 8 hours of sleep. Good sleep. Not anxious. Restful. That does not include two modest naps during the day. Accumulated sleep for the 24-hour period is about 9+ hours. Not bad.


Drinking more water (from the tap). Remaining hydrated. Frequent bathroom breaks to pee. Two good poops per day (I said ‘little things’). The personal plumbing is working great for a 77 year old body.


Sleep and bathroom routines. A good sign that the body is working pretty well in spite of everything else.


The other day I actually felt retired. First time since I did retire. That was 2008, so 12 years later I have finally slowed down enough to realize I’m retired!  Evidently I’ve kept myself too busy these past dozen years.


It snowed three inches last night. I saw it begin. At first, I said “Oh no!” Then I realized I was retired and didn’t have to fight the snow. I also live in a condo building and someone handles the snow and ice for us without me lifting a finger. This morning the snow was a pleasant oddity but no inconvenience.


I have an electronic monitor attached to my car from the insurance company. It gives me a weekly report on miles driven, nighttime miles driven (0), idle time and hard breaking or too fast accelerations. I drove 91 miles last week. I wasn’t running around helping hospitalized friends. And we did wait in parking lots in the cold with the engine running waiting for a short shopping trip. All in all the car is not being used much lately. Wasn’t used much before then either. A side effect of the covid-19 experience.


Another small thing: the car monitor records the hard breaking and accelerations. By whose definition? I have a quick transmission to start the car moving. I have anti-skid protection and it doesn’t kick in on my normal acceleration. Seems to me that should count for something. And hard breaking? Please. I don’t do that. If I did the anti-skid thingy would register something. It doesn’t. So there! I may be a zippy driver, but I am not a reckless one.


Electronic church service was a good effort, but the electronics didn’t work as expected. Turns out our bandwidth is too weak. By afternoon the recorded service made it to the network in full. The team did a great job and is still learning how to adapt to this new operating surround!


I couldn’t believe how long the president was on TV for his covid-19 update. He recounted all he has done for the pandemic response and reiterated it twice. That made the ‘press conference’ overly long. We turned it off. This morning I learned the governors are faulting the White House for inaction to deliver needed medical supplies to protect health workers during the pandemic. He continues to think he is doing enough, thus his overly long recounting of details others can and should handle. He protests too much.


That’s enough little things for now. Just think what we were working on before this outbreak. Real issues. Real problems. Real progress. All for the human race. On the other hand, now we can sleep and refresh our bodies for the fight ahead.

The question is: for what?


March 24, 2020

Close Quarters

Here we are. At home. Or stuck in a hospital, hotel, motel, or car. The latter are all in shut down due to ill-time travel or illness. The ripple effect goes on and on to many layers as friends and family of these individuals are worried sick for them and miss them in their lives. Of course there are the homeless. They are outdoors or in public custodial sites.


Our suburban streets are nearly empty. We live close to city hall and its many service departments. Some traffic centers around them. We are 2 miles from hospital. Ambulances, patients being driven or driving cars shuttle them to doctors and medical services. Medical workers are out and about as well to commute from home to clinic or hospital.


The Metra train station is across the street. Very few cars present. Very few. The trains, of course, run as usual through today. By Monday, commuter schedules will be drastically altered. No reason to run empty trains forty miles between city and suburbs when few riders show up.


The small grocery across the street teems with life. The general manager lives in our condo building. He is healthy and young. We are old and not healthy. We know if push comes to shove he will help us get what we need.


We ordered from Target about $65 worth of cleaning supplies and food stuffs. Supposed to have been delivered last evening, but they rescheduled for this morning. Other texts/emails from the driver indicate more delays, and the real possibility that our order has been mixed up with others. We shall see how this plays out. [Got most of what we ordered; some items out of stock]


Thursday night we ordered out to a local Mexican restaurant, a treasured business. We drove over a few minutes later to pick up our order. We went in to complete the transaction, interacting with very few people. Food was delicious. El Coco Loco is alive and well and their food is as good as always!  Support them, please. Keep them in business.


I spend more time on the internet with email, Facebook, and SCORE communications. I gather news as usual from many sources and parse the world’s happenings. We are plugged in and know more than what’s on TV. At least we do not have to witness the bumbling president mess up his script with ad libs that mean absolutely nothing and usually offset what he did say from the script.


I also read more. Good stuff. Serious stuff. Treasured authors now long gone but still entertaining. We have shared our idle book shelves with the rest of the residents in our condo building. A free library. Take it or return it. No matter. Read and enjoy. Divert you attention from serious matters to more private, enjoyable times.


We eat simply. Much less as well. We may actually end this quarantine more healthy!


I know my mind and emotions will be healthier. Something about peace and quiet heals even a ruptured soul. There’s something to that. perhaps we need to remember this and keep it in our lives once things get back to normal. Peace and quiet. Soul searching. And mending.


Amen.


March 23, 2020

Sunday Virus Day

So here we are home alone. Or maybe you are  with a small family core and not alone. In the age of Covid-19, we are all alone in many ways even with people in the same home, or building.

Here are more observations from my viewpoint: 75+ gay couple, married 4+ years, together 20 years. Living in a condo building mixed with leased units; 39 homes, population of 75 or 80. Mixed ages and ethnicities, singles, couples and families with small children. A happy place and nice, too.

Traffic and outdoor activity is positively creepy quiet. We are in a downtown area of a suburb, 30 miles west of Chicago, population 27,000. We have some traffic throughout the day, but the usual hubbub is down to a trickle.

Our church is challenged by the shelter in place order. However, volunteers and staff are working hard to keep the church functioning. To most people, church is a place; theologically church is people. People who come together to learn the age-old teachings of what God hopes and wants from us and for us. This can be done alone, but is best anchored in understanding in group settings.

Never in recent history has this lesson of church been more apparent: The church is people of faith doing the work of God's will. It is not the church doing for us, or a building being the all of who we are.

So, the modern church must re-invent itself. For now, our congregation will continue worshipping together technologically. Four people will be at the church leading the service (Pastor), music (Director of Music), techno geek making it all work, and a volunteer on the camera to live-stream the service. The worship service will stream over our Facebook page at 10:15 am today. That's for Trinity Lutheran Church of Warrenville, Illinois. Check it out if you have the interest.

For the past several months the church has struggled with its theological identity as it deals with financial realities that challenge the historical 'way'. New things must be attempted if the church is to be relevant to people of all ages, cultures and stages of faith. The discussions have been immensely interesting and heartfelt. The trick is to find the new way without throwing out the baby with the bath water. (look up that metaphor on Google)

Whether this church finds its way to continue its 75-year history is still an open story. The challenge remains. One thing will continue: God's Will is his/her's. Regardless of what we do, his/her's will be done. It is up to us to be a part of that or not.

In that spirit our particular church must be openly inviting and inclusive of all peoples. Young, old, gay or straight, with family or none, believing or struggling with faith. All of these must be welcome to do the will of God. Pretty straightforward view. It is not about us; it is about God.

Some of my readers have shied away from any of my God talk. I don't engage in churchy things in this blog. But I am a person of faith. I believe in God. My brokenness is accepted by God and I am able to contribute to his Will. It may not be perfect, but it is honest. I was raised in a Christian home, so that heritage is my guide to understanding God's message. The same God and same message is found in every religion on the face of the globe. The structures may differ, but Mohammad, Abraham and Christ all said or meant the same thing. I'm not a particular believer in any one heritage; Christianity has been a serviceable template for me on my faith journey. That's my choice and shades no other faith. We are all God's people.

Enough of this for one day. You didn't tune in to hear a sermon. However, our shared situation may be the perfect time to consider our faith journeys.

Thanks for your readership. Sorry if I offend or disappoint any of you in this personal matter.

March 22, 2020

Coronavirus Update

While the Covid-19 pandemic continues, I will post to this blog site. This is a moment in history that needs to be documented at the personal level. I will attempt to do that.

I write this at 5:30 am on Saturday, March 21, 2020. I am in my home office looking out the window on a quiet, mostly inactive site. Downtown West Chicago, Illinois, USA. City Hall next door. Our building is a 4-storey condominium containing 39 homes/apartments. Across the street is a small grocery store, well known for its Mexican heritage. It is popular and always crammed. It will be today as well despite the pandemic. People need to eat and they buy food. Next to them is the Metra commuter rail station with a huge parking lot. that lot is now empty and will be so every day the pandemic continues. All this past week the lot has been mostly empty. Eerie.  Street traffic is almost nonexistent.

We are on the mainline for ambulance, fire and police traffic. That traffic continues 24/7 as does traffic for city services and the nearby hospital. We are in the thick of things. The population of our community is 27,000 in a county of 1 million. Chicago metro has a population of nearly 10 million. Bustling with human activity describes the norm. That is not so now.

Also across the street, is perhaps the busiest rail line in the nation. No passenger traffic other than commuter, but freight is 24/7/365 and constant. A quarter mile west of our building is a north/south freight line that runs from central Canada to the port near New Orleans. That rail line is busy 24/7/365 as well, and runs trains of one to two miles in lengths, most likely 28 to 32 per day. So West Chicago is a rail center as it has been for all its history. That is the reason this community came to be and continues.

The rail lines are constant. The nation and the world is supplied by these rail lines. And the world lives so the rail traffic continues unabated.

It's the people who are abated, or at least their activity.

Yes, it is weird. But we get along with electronic connections, naps, and making arrangements for food and supplies of all sorts. What we need is delivered or we arrange a curbside pickup. Restaurants take our order and we drive by for a quick takeout pickup. Eat at home. Safe and sound.

That's the message - safe and sound.

We keep at this discipline because we are told to and it makes sense. We cooperate to preserve health and life. It is not emotional yet. Just tedious at time.

Reading, thinking, writing, napping, cleaning, eating, showering, dressing, doing laundry, taking the trash to the chute. All these activities break the tedium. We have cause to think about what is important.

We think of family near and far, and those who have passed away. We ponder what is real in life.

Lately, I have ponder on the languages of life. More or that in a future post.  Until then, be safe and love and be loved.

March 21, 2020

PS: today is my 14th anniversary of being sober.

Getting Along

Now that we have some time, here are some observations:

Update: elder couple and family crisis reported last week in this space; the wife was placed in elder respite while husband remained in hospital. Social workers cited state law of ‘family abandonment’ for reason to place her involuntarily in respite care. Husband (hospital patient) was released to convalescent facility and joined wife in same facility. Medical staff there encountered medical problems and returned him to hospital. He does not remember where he was and thus has lost track of wife. I have called two institutions and the hospital. Care centers do not report her among their patients. Hospital claims they can’t provide information to me due to confidentiality laws. Later I learned her location from her daughter, father is doing better in hospital (I talked to him) and he will be returned to the care center and rejoin his wife. For now, this is as happy as it gets for this family.


Voted Tuesday and all my candidates won. This is a primary so my candidates will be on the ballot in the fall to face the other party's opponents. A heavy republican area, my democrat choices have a chance to level the playing field in Washington and Springfield. So we continue the struggle!


Polling place was near empty. No lines. No coughing or sneezing, either. So we two tottering old fools reeled in, voted, and went home. Totally uneventful.


Have emailed nearly everyone I can think of. Am caught up with even distant cousins living in all corners of the country. Wow! And it isn’t even Christmas.


Car is fully gassed with nowhere to go. Didn’t take ride in country yesterday. Napped instead.

Taking stock of our supplies, we will soon be out of oatmeal, disinfectant bathroom cleaners and Kleenex. We will poke along for awhile until we truly need them. Several people have told us to let them know when they can pick up stuff for us to keep us out of the public. Instead of calling on them, we placed an on-line order with Target, and they will deliver on Friday to our door. Wow!


Metra parking lot across the street from our condo building is almost empty and it is 7:40 am on Wednesday as I write this. (Thursday was even emptier!) Traffic is nil. Skeleton crew at City Hall next door. Grocery across the street is doing booming business. Local Mexican restaurant (a special jewel in our town) announced it will take phone orders and deliver to their curb for drive by pickups. Taco Thursday has been saved! And it was delicious as always!  Thank you El Coco Loco!


Condo will provide a folding table in lobby upon which we can stack underused books for residents to read during this time of quarantine and sheltering. I must move some of my books down to the table!! Selected 8 for now. Have a couple of hundred to go!


Taxes done. Preparer will likely call me in a few days to sign some forms and off they go!


Anybody else notice that the price of crude oil by the barrel is at a 40 year low? Why then are pump prices for gas at $2.20 when they ought to be 1.89 or lower? Hmmmm? Just curious.


Airlines seeking public bailout? For what? They spent their bumper crop profits in recent years to buy back company stock to boost stock prices and executive bonuses. They did not improve salaries and wages for their staff. They did go into debt for $30 billion for new planes. Why not provide a loan holiday for them of say 6 months without penalty? Bankers and other lenders will still be there and the interest rates are at an all time low so they won’t be missing much income. Please; no bailout for a company that is not essential nor a public utility.


That’s all the news for this posting. More on Monday.


March 20, 2020

Facing Reality

The hot bath feels good. A plate of fettucine alfredo sates taste buds and the void in the stomach (even when there isn’t a void!). A warm breeze with just the right humidity – not dry as a dessert nor humid as Florida before a thunderstorm. Birdsong lilting from trees on high and down low on bushes. The purr of a cat. The soft mewling of a dog in slumber while dreaming.


These are comforting thoughts. They soothe the frets and worries of life.


The opposite is the many stresses and strains in life. Bills piling up. Cars and major appliances breaking down; to replace or repair becomes an often heard question.


Illness of own or others is another worry. Will this illness be weathered well and soon forgotten? Or will it be with me to the end of my time?


Have I saved enough money for retirement? Will I be able to live where I want to? Will my home be roomy and comfortable? Or will I have to settle for less? Will I escape winter weather, or have to hunker down to shoveling snow, de-icing walks, and otherwise hibernate for three months?


Will my kids grow up to use their education and build a life that is challenging, rewarding and motivating? Or will they dribble life away in one dead end job after another? Or waste money on drugs, booze and gambling? Will they take charge of their own life? How do I prepare them for that? How will they find their way in this world? Have I done enough to help them do for themselves?


OK, enough of this. Reality screams in our face daily. What we do with it is the main thing.


Facing the real things in our life is important. Escaping does no good whatever.


I’ve watched people self-medicate themselves into a rehab facility. It doesn’t much make a difference if the substance abused is food, alcohol or drugs. The damage done lasts a lifetime. The escape is but momentary. Soon enough the problem becomes crystal clear. The person either faces it and surmounts the troubles, or gives in once more time, self-medicates and essentially becomes a lost soul.


It doesn’t matter if native talents in music, math, science, writing or whatever exist in the person. The escape blots out all talent. Remember Tennessee Williams? A brilliant playwright and writer. Brilliant. Yet he was a drunk and a seeker of pleasure – sexual and otherwise – to the extent that he wasted much of his talent. So bad  that he choked on a simple meal and died.


Mama Cass died by choking, too. She was talented but addicted to food. It got her in the end. And prematurely.


Our social landscape is riddled with youth who are gambling their future through drugs and booze. Looking cool and feeling good robs them of their commonsense. Soon enough the escape is the only thing they are interested in. Without luck their lives ebb away all too quickly. And that’s only the young. What about the other age groups? Each age grouping of life is a phase each of us must navigate. All are challenges that could trip us up.


Do we face reality squarely and do constructive, logical things with it? Do we grow through this or are we stunted by the struggle? Are these stages of life motivators to create and thrive? Or are they hurdles to overcome by escape?  If escape is the chosen route, growth is stunted. Maybe even stopped in its tracks.


Reality is our friend. It is not always nice. But it is true. We must learn from it. Shielding people from the truth doesn’t help them. It only makes them dependent on you.


Codependency will suffocate such players. Examining reality and exploring its possibilities is a more fruitful tactic.


An example: mass illness ought not lead to panic buying of toilet paper. Or random foodstuffs. The current ravaging of grocery stores is pathetic. We are a better nation than this; or so I thought!


March 19, 2020

More Virus Issues

Several thoughts spring to mind concerning the coronavirus phenom:

1.      What effect on primary voting was experienced? Did voters turn out? If so, or not, what effect did this have on the results?

2.      What bad habits did we spot and eliminate from our lives?

3.      What good habits did we discover and adopt for our lives?

4.      Are we changing lifestyles to healthier ones? Are we happier and more rooted in the relationships that truly matter in our lives?

5.      Is the work we do for a living meeting our needs? This is a vision thing for our individual futures. What is important to us and does our employment integrate well with it? If not, what career changes need we make?

6.      Why should the government bail out the airline industry? They overcharge, cram their planes with too many people, have dirty air circulated for all to breathe during the flight. Why not just allow airlines to not pay their debt payments for 3 or 6 months without any penalty? No interest, no principle payments. The banks and loan guarantors would feel pinched for a short time rather than become the new owners of useless planes.

7.      Some congressmen think a $1000 one-time check to each person would help the country get over the negative effects of the coronavirus. Why do they think this is a good idea? Tell me exactly how this would help the nation and its people. Living costs are much more than $1000 per month; lost income will be much more than $1000.

8.      Quick trip to the grocery store for one can of coffee. Panic buying evidence everywhere; spooky empty shelves and stock ravaged and spotty. Eerie to the core. I thought our nation was educated and smart. I now have many doubts about that.

As I gaze out my home office window, the train station traffic is light and the parking lot barely used. street traffic is very light. The commuter trains are running but with what ridership? Schools are closed and kids are not on the sidewalks. Nor are school buses evident. Quiet has taken residency in our downtown suburban neighborhood.


Later today, we are likely to take a ride in the country. The gas tank is full. Our cupboards are fairly well stocked, so too the freezer. The only thing dwindling are adequate cleaning supplies. Or just let it be.


Meanwhile I’m writing blogs, keeping up with emails with family, friends and SCORE clients, keeping the apartment clean and tidy. Tossing junk is on the agenda. So too, naps. Such a good thing, naps.


Don’t scoff at these small rewards of life. One day you will treasure them. Maybe today?


March 18, 2020

Virus Ideas

Monday and Illinois restaurants and bars are closed to all except pickup and delivery of food products. Schools are closed. Any gathering above 100 is banned, and really even 50 is discouraged. We are told to wash hands, stay quarantined at home, walk outside for fresh air but away from other people.


The hope is to ‘flatten the curve’ of demand for healthcare services. In turn this will allow healthcare facilities to be able to handle an orderly number of cases without causing a shutdown.


In time many of us will get the virus. In isolation the cases are likely to be mild and not need medical attention. Only the severely affected cases will need and get hospital attention. And yes, some of these patients will die. It is inevitable but manageable. Harsh? No; realistic.


In the meantime, we each have the opportunity to use our free time fruitfully. Here are some suggestions if you have not yet thought of them:

1.      Clean your living space; vacuum, dust, tidy and wash floors. Then clean countertops and plumbing fixtures. How about those lamps and light bulbs?

2.      Clear out closets, drawers and cabinets of stuff you don’t use and never will. Then tackle your basement and garage if you have either or both. They likely are jammed with stuff you no longer need.

3.      Think creatively. About many topics. Maybe you’ve always wanted to write a particular essay, book or poem? Perhaps a book of poems? What is inside your head you need to order and express? This is a chance for you to poke into it and finally do something about it.

4.      Catch up on paperwork you have been putting off. Or at least dump paper files you no longer have use for

5.      Do your taxes if you haven’t already?

6.      Listen to music you haven’t experienced in a long while. Reconnect with this art form. Recall the moods and inner peace it helped you find in the past.

7.      Listen to one another. Start up a conversation about matters you need to discuss. Don’t put it off any longer. You have the time. Use it now for positive good. Make amends. Discover new depths of personality you never knew existed, or dared to express.

8.      Ponder your long-term future. Where are you headed? What do you want to experience, to do? Why haven’t you done so before now? What is holding you back? What course of action would help you move toward the goals you truly value?

9.      Calculate how you use your time. What isn’t getting done that is important to you personally? How can you organize your future time so you can focus on what matters and what doesn’t? Shed useless timewasters and commit to progress toward you goals.

10.   Sleep, nap and restore your energy. This alone will restore health and vitality to your life. Remember to drink lots of water and eat nutritious small meals.

Following those ten steps will likely find you healthier and happier at the end of the quarantine, and or illness. It is worth a try. You will appreciate it. And your loved ones will too.


March 17, 2020

Coronavirus

During my 76 seasons of life, normal has been disrupted many times. The most likely causes dealt with weather related happenings – severe cold temps, huge dumps of snow, violent thunderstorms, windstorms of monumental proportions, etc. – and we remember them well. It made us alter routines. That alone was memorable. The outcomes of such events were rarely disastrous. Yes, some folk suffered loss of home, auto, and temporary unemployment. Sadly, some weather crises cause death as well. But mostly we survived and continued our normal in time.


Severe economic downturns over the years have changed ways of living. Many of us have stories to tell about this. Also, health scares have dotted our experience from time to time. The Tylenol poisoning scare was one; it led to product packaging changes. So much so it is now difficult to open some bottles of pills, or food packages. We even have a strong plastic cutter for some packages!


Of course, there have been the polio scare of the 1950’s, bouts of German Measles, chicken pox, mumps and so forth. Recent years have been witness to strains of flu that have required immunizations to become annual rituals.


Now comes the coronavirus epidemic. It is a pandemic because of its rapid spread across entire nations and whole continents. Jumping oceans to other land masses marks the pandemic stage. We are there.


As I write this blog posting, it is a Saturday. It is 7:30 am. Hardly a car travels the streets and I am downtown in my suburb next to the Metra Station and City Hall and grocery stores. In the midst of a heavy traffic area, there are few people about. At times, none. A little spooky.


This past week I helped some friends with a family health crisis. We were in and out of the hospital daily for 5 days. They remain there. I have stepped away due to exhaustion. However, the hospital remains both an anchor for help in all times of emergencies, but also a contagion arena. Best to remain away if possible.


Doctors, nurses and all the support staff of our local hospitals, of course, work through their shifts to help others. They are our heroes and champions. They are on the front line of the pandemic defense line. Remember them and support them. They need our help.


Meanwhile, we can and should do everything to remain healthy and pandemic free. Wash hands; avoid crowded spaces. Remain home as much as possible. Keep in contact via electronic media. Listen to music, watch TV, and read books.


Re-learning how to relax is a good thing. This pandemic may have happy consequences yet. Just imagine a society calming down and personally at rest. Reading and contemplating never hurt anyone. Maybe we will discover a silver lining to this turn in history?


We can hope. And work for it.


March 16, 2020

Challenging Days, Continued

Well, the saga of a family falling apart continues. I'm in the middle of it but that will end today. Here's a recap:

Monday, the father falls and breaks his hip. Tuesday, underlying conditions make surgery dangerous. Wednesday, he improves, stabilizes and surgery to repair the hip is accomplished. Thursday, he begins the process of healing and therapy to learn how to walk with the new hip. Friday is today. If he does really well, he will be moved to a convalescent facility for more therapy and medical follow up for the surgical site. [His other conditions: liver and kidney function low; abdominal fluid collecting from unknown cause; emphysema and bronchitis]

Today is Friday of the same week. Patient's wife has been in my custody since all of this began. She is in stage 3 or 4 dementia. Cannot be left alone because she wanders and gets lost. Doesn't remember recent events or event a minute of the past. It's like being an adult friend to a very young child.

Yet, this same person has a fabulous and interesting life history. Her mind is beautiful and alive. She recounts the past richly, and it is a posh story. Robert Redford, Tennessee Williams, Harrison Ford, Roger Moore, Mary Tyler Moore, and so many other actor greats. The stories are truly memorable and factual. But dementia destroys her connection to today. Even her intellectual brilliance is special. She is a great conversationalist. But, once the conversation thread is broken, she doesn't know who she is, where she is, or what is happening.

An hour or two is quaint. four full days of it is exhausting. And I admit it; I am totally done in.

So, picking up the pieces, here is what needs to be done. The social workers at the hospital hasve worked on this case for two days now. The county social worker is now deeply involved. They are working to find a place for the patient - the father - so he can continue to heal from surgery while getting the physical therapy he needs to return to self sufficient life skills like walking, household chores, and caring for his wife with dimentia.

And the social workers are trying to find a place for the wife so she can remain with him. That is a very tall order. Most probably, she will need to go to elder respite while he is healing. That means she will be in a special medical facility apart from her husband.

Meanwhile, their 35-year old son is an alcoholic with underlying psychological problems. He is currently in a Chicago behavioral hospital for safe keeping. A daughter who knows this entire case, is a single mother of three, owns and operates two businesses, and is totally engaged and busy in her day to day existence. She does that well to the point of exhaustion. She cannot care for her mother because she is already caring for two businesses, the employees, and her three kids. All alone.

The daughter texted me overnight that she suffered a high blood pressure event and was hospitalized for that condition. She is a young woman who suffered a stroke in the recent past while delivering her last baby.

So, the toll continues. The family is fully using the social services network as explained above. There are three more adult children involved, but they refuse to be involved. And there resides even more of the tragedy of this American family. Where it all ends no one knows, of course. It is just another day in the life of a tragedy unfolding.

This is know: I will do my computer work, then shower and shave, grab breakfast and take the wife to the hospital to spend time with her husband. While there, I will turn her case over to the hospital social workers and arrange my departure from this case.

I will return home and attempt to reorder my life. I will also pray that this gifted family finds its way through this awful set of circumstances.

A passing thought worth stating: God bless medical workers who can and do work through this tragedy every day!


Meanwhile, a tired Samaritan wants his nap!


March 13, 2020

Days of Challenge

Monday started with picking up my friends at 7:45 am. We were due at the local hospital test lab for a routine blood workup to monitor the husband’s progress on various health issues. I pulled the car into a handicapped slot in the garage, and the husband walked into the building for the tests. His wife and I remained in the car. I told him, call me if you need me.


He did. The weak message: “I fell and can’t get up. Help!”


His wife and I jumped out of the car and entered the hospital. There he was at the information desk. On the floor, in a pool of urine. Several staff members surrounded him, a foot offered for a pillow for his head. ER staff were on the way.


I spoke with the desk staff. Everyone feared his fall to the hard floor may have broken his leg, or worse, his hip.


Carefully, they moved him to a backboard in screaming agony, then to a gurney, and finally he was led away to the ER. Wife and I followed with another escort.


In the ER the diagnosis was confirmed. Broken hip. He had to be admitted. An orthopedic surgeon would be summoned to schedule hip replacement surgery either this evening, or tomorrow. Meanwhile, painkillers were injected to make him as comfortable as possible.


The fall was at 8:09 am. ER was 8:15. He was moved to a regular hospital room at 11:15. His wife and I went out for a McDonald’s breakfast, pay the couple’s apartment rent, visit their apartment for a change of clothes and more personal effects, and then back to the hospital.


By 1 pm the patient was sedated and fed lunch. Exhausted we fell into chairs and tried to understand what lay ahead.


Many phone calls were made. Family members were called for action to help mom and dad at this special time. That was not easy to arrange. The kids were spread far, and some were not available to help due to illness, childcare issues, and employment obligations.


As the day moved along, the wife and I went to the hospital cafeteria for supper. Then back to the patient’s room. Daughter had arrived and was organizing things. I took his wife and headed for my home where she would sleep on our sofa and regain composure. And rest.


Complications exist. Of course. They just do as in most cases like this. A son has a history of alcohol abuse and is incapable of managing his own affairs at this time. Of course he called his dad; I answered the call, told him we were in the hospital. He needed money so he would not be living on the street. We couldn’t help. Somehow he found his way to his sister's home. She couldn’t help him because she was working and had small children to care for. Meanwhile, her mother (patient’s wife) has dementia and cannot be left alone. She wanders and doesn’t know where she is.


So we have a patient in hospital awaiting surgery, a wife with dementia needing constant supervision, a son in need of institutionalization, and the remainder of the family in despair wondering what to do.

Of course I brought the wife home so we could keep an eye on her.


We went to bed at 9 pm. Awoke at midnight with endless questions about where’s Dad, son, daughter, etc. It is now 1:45 am and I am writing this blog posting. I will publish it Thursday morning, two days later.


Today’s agenda is more sleep, breakfast, shower and shave, then on to the hospital. We will watch over the patient as he goes into surgery and recovers from it.


The road ahead is long. Where it will take us, we do not know.


We hope. And pray a little.


March 12, 2020

Markets, Viruses, Russia

A boogeyman does exist. It is Putin of Russia. Why? Because his nation is bankrupt and down on its international influence. The only thing he has is military materiel to cause mischief, and a supply of oil that is declining in value.


But wait. Market experts (oil pros) are certain he is pressing the global oil price lower to make it impossible and impracticable to mine oil from shale rock. The American resurgence in oil production has come mainly from shale oil production, aided by fracking wells. This fresh supply of crude oil has destabilized the world oil price.


Theory goes: destroy the price of oil by artificially lowering it, and the new American oil producers will withdraw from the market, making oil scarcer and causing the price to jump higher. With higher oil prices, Russia’s oil supply returns to as a world factor and earns Russia gobs of international monetary balances.


So, when the coronavirus has most financial markets spooked – supply chain interruption, absences in the labor pool due to illness, etc. – an oil market disruption complicates the mathematical probabilities and creates chaos. Just what Dr. Putin ordered.


Alas! Putin doesn’t understand the collaborative approach of western democracies. We work together for the good of vast numbers of people within and without our borders. Markets are calmed by thinkers with the credentials that matter. International diplomats reach out to one another and lead the way back to calm certainty. Leaders across the globe do the same.


Together we take a large gulp of air, exhale slowly, and realize all is not lost. All is, in fact, much the same, and now we get back to work.


There are fundamentals of life working among us. We need each other. We need each other’s goods, services and minerals to make the products we all need. We buy and sell these to each other. Economic transactions build and the world economy purrs along quite nicely.


The bullies in the classroom only have an effect on the classroom they are in. The rest of us are elsewhere and see him outside our influence. We go on with daily routines and careers. The day shapes up pretty much like all the days preceding it.


All is well in spite of bullies and power mongers. The people have the power. Always have. It is up to us to do our jobs and keep on doing what matters.


Franklin Delano Roosevelt said it best: “The only fear we have to fear, is fear itself.” And then, Winston Churchill went on to say, Keep calm; we will survive!


Good advice still.


March 11, 2020

Why I Blog

A changing world pulls me toward new understandings of life. Of people. Of concepts. Of intersections that expand meaning and understanding. A cycle of thoughts, happenings and relationships. All bumping into one another. Exciting and creative, this. Also, chaotic and bewildering.


Not alone am I. Nor you.


We are in this together. The more I learn the more I realize our interdependence. Each of us is an island but more moments; the rest of the time we spend interacting with each other or the affects and effects of each person’s being. You cause things to happen. The other fellow as well. And I do my part of adding to the stew.


How all of this glumps together to produce discernable order is a beautiful puzzle to ponder and put in order.


That’s the blog. Attempts at ordering. Chaos to meaning. Discerning meaning. Short term or long term meaning is an enigma always in solution stages. So the blog cannot come to a conclusion; it alights on one stem, petal or leaf at a time in the garden of delights. Like a bee nosing through the blooms of a massive garden, I swoop in and out of short visits. The brain finds order in this. Like nature, the larger function is served and the results learned later.


What blossoms will appear next season? What cross-pollenization will take root? Will this hybrid work wonder or disaster for the rest of the garden? How do we make the most of the one while guarding against the other in our actions of today? How long must we wait to learn which worked?


Social organization and governance are like a garden. Not all organized. Not all known. Agents of change constantly buzzing about and causing something to happen, just not readily apparent.


That concept alone is worthy of a blog. Ponder it well.


March 10, 2020

Curious

The guy sat waiting for the barber to take him next. He did not read a magazine or paper at hand. He didn’t scan his phone. He just sat there. Staring ahead. Blank faced.


I wondered what he was thinking about. I was reading a book to fill any time while waiting. I got used to this while living in Wheaton and frequently sat at train crossings for slow freights! It was my practice to always have reading material on hand.


Even now in retirement I read journals, scan internet news feeds, and read books, both Kindle and those with real pages. This keeps my brain engaged. It fills my curiosity, too. I am reminded of the Facebook meme that shows t-shirt and book images with the declaration – “I read books. I know things.”


And I do know things. not an expert, mind you, but a person who appreciates life’s complexities and how things fit together; or don’t!


This weekend a neighbor and I attended Northwestern University’s Day University. It was an event with three lectures by renowned researchers, teachers and authors. The event was packed, sold out in record time. About 1200 attended at Northwestern’s Law School in Chicago. Topics included:


The Presidency: Changing Role of America’s Highest Office; Jeremy Suri, University of Texas

The Human Brain: What We Know (and what we don’t); Heather Berlin, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Four Memorable Musicals That Changed Broadway; Sean Hartley, Kaufman Music Center


Liberal Arts, Science and Arts. All topics that intersect with one another in strange and wonderful ways.


The invention of the American Presidency is decidedly not monarchical, not defined in the Constitution, but created by George Washington. It later was expanded in law, policy and protocol by other presidents, most notably Abraham Lincoln (subscription of military forces, expansion of education for the masses via land grant colleges and universities, expansion of voting rights, emancipation of slaves, and much more. Then Franklin Roosevelt with the intervention of government to support quality of life for the suffering poor and depression families; social security; global responsibility and military action to preserve the free world; diplomacy to build a self-sustaining global village. And then several recent incumbents of the White House. All have gathered more power by overshadowing Congress while shaping the courts. Has this gone too far? Yes. It is time for the public to redesign the office to better fit with the checks and balances first envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. The public holds the power to do this and will sooner or later.


The brain is intricate and expansive in its function and capabilities. We know so much more about how it works, but with each advance in that understanding we learn even more of the capabilities of the shrouded brain. Will we connect individuals to computers and Artificial Intelligence? Could be, but should we? What are the ethical limitations versus freedom to explore and discover? So much more lies ahead in the head!


And then there is music and its many art forms. This day we focused only on Broadway Musicals and its future. We toured the history of the musical form and how it became rooted on Broadway. What might this become in a technological world? Will we continue to focus on the physical place of Broadway, or spread to many sites throughout the nation and globe? Will large entertainment conglomerates control the artistic karma of creation, or will individual genius still prevail in speaking the human condition in music and dramatic action? Time will tell, won’t it?


And thus the power of politics and the people, the capabilities of the brain and the expressive power of art come together.


Pretty neat day. Several hours well spent I think. Plenty to think about at the barber shop waiting room.


March 9, 2020

Pondering

Small gathering of people Tuesday night at Nexus. This is our local discussion group on current events practiced with civil voices. Yes, we do not agree with one another. No, that doesn’t harm our free exchange of ideas and feelings. The latter are important in that they often skew our logic. Pretty natural. Also can change tone and start arguments. Not with us!


The discussion was about how ‘fishbowl vision’ affects how we see the world around us. The fish in his bowl, sees the world from his unique perspective. How factual is that vision? Similarly, we humans see the world from our fishbowl lenses, too.


Perhaps you are an adopted person. How has that shaped your perception of the world around you? What does growing up in a house of alcoholics do to your perspective? What about struggling with sexual identity not conforming with the world around you?


Of course, our surroundings condition our feelings first, then our logic that interprets what we see and experience. The same is true if you are a liberal, conservative, middle of the roader, republican or democrat. Perceptions change with such nurturing backgrounds. Not all perceptions are happy ones.


Racism is a conditioning in which people of one race feel differently from another race. If I fear losing my identity because I am surrounded by people of a different race, then I will likely act differently. I may not even be aware of it.


The white privilege syndrome is subtle. I have caught myself being surprised by the articulation of a complicated point by a person of a different race. Then I realized I was the one with a problem! Assumed superiority is sneaky that way. And I had no clue I was so imbued.


Likewise religious views. What role does church play in your life, or another’s? What should its role be in society at large? What about political and governance issues? What fishbowl lens do we have concerning this issue?


This is our next topic for discussion at Nexus. Tuesday, April 7^th, at Towne Tap of Warrenville, Illinois. 6:30 pm. Order your own pizza and beverage. Then relax and let brains share their interaction!


March 6, 2020

Pandemics

I know the current coronavirus scare is all the rage. It deserves the attention because of its spread rate and continental leaps on the globe. Scary to think it could spread to our own neighborhood, region and home.


Scarier still is the lack of a vaccine to protect us. I know they are working on it and will eventually have something, but meantime early victims are in doubt as to their recovery and long-term effects. Of course, we project all of this on ourselves and families. Yes, scary.


A moment of pause, please. Just a reminder, that in the early 80’s hundreds of thousands of men were falling ill from a mysterious symptomology and the medical community was powerless to solve it let alone treat it. Time did uncover treatments, but patients still died all too often.


This epidemic turned into a global pandemic. It eventually claimed the lives of 32 million people (men, women and children). That is 43% of the infected patient count of 74.9 million. A death rate of 43%! These numbers are through 2018. The disease continues to take its toll.


Now, put that in perspective of coronavirus deaths of 2% or less of infected patients. 3000 lives have been lost globally so far. Of course that number will rise significantly before the epidemic is behind us. Still, 2% versus 43%. Shocking.


Yes, HIV/AIDS has the stigma of being a gay disease. Funny; the women and children who died weren’t gay. Stigma kills just the same whether rationale is sensible or not. Death is death. Disease is disease. It affects all of us in one way or another.


Best we pay attention and do what is necessary to reduce the toll of all disease among us.


Fact: 37.9 million AIDS patients were alive in 2018. 770,000 died that year from the disease.


March 5, 2020

Super Tuesday

Fourteen states held their primary balloting yesterday. Nationally, attention focused on Democrat presidential candidates. The winners appear to be Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Elizabeth Warren did not do well, but neither did Mike Bloomberg or Tulsi Gabbard.


More was on the ballot than presidential choice. Congressional candidates were winnowed down in many districts. These are important races that will determine the fabric of the House of Representatives. Some movement in the Senate is expected as well. Other elected positions appeared on the ballot too. Although national attention rarely casts a shadow there, the personality and temper of political times are forecast by who runs and wins at various levels of state and regional elections.

The primaries are a major mechanism to whittle down those who make it to the final ballot in November. For now our attention is on who will likely be the challenger to the incumbent White House occupant.

Democrats are continuing their dizzying competition for party spokesperson. Will it be a moderate? Or will it be a democratic socialist? Or something in between. Which of these will have the best chance to win support from the American voter? Will their support end the social experiment labeled Trumpism?


First, let us acknowledge that Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klubuchar have dropped out of the race. Who might be next? Tulsi Gabbard has never actually been a viable finisher.


The odds on winners to make it to the nominating convention are: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and possibly Mike Bloomberg.


These candidates are shown in the polling strength order I believe will be the final lineup. There is doubt of course; Elizabeth Warren remains a candidate but as time marches on voters appear to be backing away from her and toward the other three candidates, all white men of significant age. She is also running out of money so her candidacy may run out by April 1.


OK. Let’s say one of the three remaining men make it to the nomination. Who among the also-rans might they choose for a running mate?  This is the next chapter of leadership selection. A female candidate would be likely. Maybe even the young Mayor Pete?


My preference at this point is Bloomberg over Biden. Both are moderates, but Bloomberg has the executive experience in government, solving huge problems in a contentious age and scarce resources. Biden remains a politically experienced candidate. Which would be better?


My attention does not embrace Bernie Sanders. I feel his liberalism is too much for the nation to digest at this time of our history. His talking points are powerful and should make us think of what our future could be if we truly lived our values. But that takes a faith that may be too far for the American public.


Of course, whoever wins the nomination gets my vote. In the final analysis, voting trump out of office is the number one priority.


March 4, 2020

Virus

Organism that grows quickly on host organism. Spreads quickly, leaping from one host to another.


This organic reproduction is a model now for rapid adaptation of anything – viral message, video, meme. Also, of new product success. Or fashion emergence over a broad population or region.


Sickness, of course, is our current focus. From bat droppings in China to a vast population; exposed to illness which leads to death of some patients. This is the coronavirus. It is now an epidemic spreading to other nations and continents. If it continues rampant spread in each of its landing zones, it may very well become a pandemic. Now that’s a viral adaptation to note!


The illnesses spread in this manner cause absence from school, work and social events. That includes travel and entertainment venues. Social activities will be markedly less. With that comes economic impact. In most cases, illness is a small margin of impact. In an epidemic, the impact is much more.


In a pandemic, the impact is enormous. That’s noticeable. In a short span of time human activity is so changed it is noticed on a large scale. Obviously economic impact is substantial.


Today’s epidemic of coronavirus may soon be termed a pandemic. Because of that possibility, human reaction is to take cover, enact defenses, and – even without the pandemic label yet – affects the economy. Infects more likely.


Travel drops off. Business meetings are cancelled. Internet, Skype and Zoom applications take their place. Phone traffic and email transmissions soar. Documents are shared digitally and paper docs are eliminated entirely.

In person shopping drops off, schools are closed for a time, so too, businesses. Seeing this, stock markets are seen as vulnerable. Stock indexes drop off. Asset evaluations shift noticeably. Soon the weight of the epi-pandemic is viewed fully.


The viral happening can transform a society's routine to a stark reality. Life and death are real. Always has been. Two plus two makes four. Simple logic. Simple math.


Funny how some things sharpen our understanding of what’s important.


March 3, 2020

Price of Gasoline

Do you shop for the lowest pump price for gas? I will if prices have spiked and I’m looking for a decent price for a fill up. We even have a phone app for that. It gives us the pump prices for at least a one suburb radius around our town. I won’t travel very far for a lower price. For pennies on a gallon, why bother to spend gas to get gas?


But here’s the thing. Pump prices are nuts over the last 18 months. Case in point: recently global oil prices have plummeted, from $54 a barrel to $45. Gas prices? They rocket between $2.40 and $2.80. Even with the coronavirus scare, oil continues to plummet in price while gasoline soars to $2.80 without a hiccup. And this is a universal price among ALL gas stations in our area.


There is no reason for the spike at the pump. There is no underlying foundation for the price change. Petroleum gurus have forecast an oil slump for months now, even predicting gas prices below $2 a gallon. Just as prices seem to soften, another spike comes along, but when barrel prices are tracked, pump prices move in the opposite direction!


Who can explain this to me? This has nothing to do with taxes at the pump. This has nothing to do with prevailing weather in the area. Or holidays.


I watch pump prices constantly. I am aware. Call it my OCD symptom. I lived through the gas lines of the 70’s and the continuing instability of pump prices in the 80’s. I watch. And I reward my patronage to the gas stations who seem fairest in their price tracking to the global market. The other stations I ignore.


I think it is interesting that our country supposedly believes in free markets. Oddly, gasoline and oil isn’t one of those markets anymore. It is a whipsawed, manipulated, price fixing oligopoly. It’s time we consumers rise up and do something about it.


This is not just an economic issue. It is a political and regulatory issue. Remember that the next time you vote.


March 2, 2020