We sure have time for reflection these days. An understatement, n'est-ce pas? We see a video of Sean Penn from his home - very disheveled-looking - we are amused and conclude "Sean Penn is all of us now."
My time spent in public places now is negligible - only what is essential, like a daily trip to our "oasis" Willie's Super Valu - so I don't take care to wear a variety of clothes. I might grab the same clothing items every day. It's just utilitarian, to get by.
We needn't apply deodorant. Shave on a disciplined timetable? Why?
Recently I stumbled on a godsend of a "household tips" item: no need to "make your bed" right away in the morning. My, what a sea change from conventional thinking. Historically, if you're a young adult living with people outside your family for the first time, you're at great risk of being upbraided if found to not be making your bed. You should be able to bounce a nickel off it, right? Well, if you're in the barracks in the Marines, yes. Anyone who falls short of the norm might be told "were you born in a barn?"
It's a fundamental test of maturity, right? "Make your bed."
Well no, it's really not advisable. The very informed household tips piece I came upon, advised that you should pull your upper sheet and blankets back. Your body has sweat on it. After lying in bed for several hours, try to get your bedding optimally dry. Dry bedding and dry socks are important this time of year to protect your health, I'd argue.
And this winter more than any, it's paramount to protect one's health. So don't make your bed, defy the norm, be prepared to proclaim you were "born in a barn," I guess. We're in league with the disheveled Sean Penn as we fall into the new reality.
We are tortured by news of the vaccine rollout, because all we really want to know now is "OK, big news with vaccine but when can I get it?" Some people are by nature hesitant about vaccines. For those of us who are not hesitant, we just want to know when we can get it.
I'll be a broken record and suggest that the federal government with its vast power and resources, like to run a deficit (unlike states), get fired up and make things happen. But we are such lemmings in our American society of today. I'll say again at the risk of being ad nauseam: the blight of the Trump presidency is right in front of us, right in front of our nose, for us to realize and act upon.
We can spend three hours watching cable TV news in the morning and absorb an avalanche of disgusting news about Trump and his failings. My statement does not apply to Fox News naturally. Fox is a discordant voice that hampers our movement toward enlightenment. It contributes to the foot-dragging with response to the virus.
Because Republicans do not believe in a strong interventionist federal government to protect citizens from calamity, i.e. the virus, we can expect that Trump and his regime will be unhelpful. They attempt to throw up a smokescreen by blaming states, especially states with Democratic governors. That's Minnesota. Go ahead and rail at Tim Walz, as I'm sure many Morris area residents are. I have a personal friend in business who casts stones.
The states of the U.S. are already cash-strapped.
Hillary Clinton could have led us out of this mess a long time ago. I absolutely don't care that Hillary has qualities that can chafe some. It's beside the point. I have friends who would lump Hillary in with the rapscallions of the world. Good for you - it's beside the point. The point is what a Democratic Party president would have done, once learning of the threat posed by the virus. The president would call for sacrifices that surely would inconvenience us.
The sacrifices would have had their desired effect - the storm clouds would have slowly abated. And then, a lot of us would still be ticked off about the inconveniences we'd been dealt. Life could have resumed greater normality by now. And we'd take it for granted.
Many of us are getting a lesson, if we needed one, about the fundamental differences in the two political parties, their values. Trump simply wants people to go to church. That's because Christianity is an opiate that will keep people docile as they hope that God or whoever will take care of everything, so don't bother the government. Don't bother the government to collect taxes, to ensure we'll have basic needs met that cannot be met by private industry. Just tend to your own matters, please.
"Don't bother us while we tend to the really important business of cutting taxes for the wealthy and stripping regulations to maximize profits and endanger people's health, safety and security. Let business just exploit people. Look the other way please, and it would help if you just went to church please."
Not that Trump gives a rat's patootie about Christianity, heaven forbid. But he and his ilk have been largely successful. We see this with the plurality of the Christian faith bonding with him in a maddening way. I could pull my hair out over this but it wouldn't go any good.
In the pandemic I cut my own hair - works better than I expected. But I do look rather like Sean Penn. And I'll throw on the same clothes today as I did yesterday, when I depart soon for "oasis" Willie's to grab my daily breakfast of bagels/coffee from Caribou Coffee. Then I'll return home and join Sean Penn in spirit.
We're getting so comfortable with this, we hardly notice now the aberrant nature of it all. We have to accept it, as it has gone on a long time and is likely to go on much longer. Our problems will not be solved, because we have a national leader who wants to blame states, especially the Democratic Party governors. Our leader pounds his desk with such protestations during the time he's not on the golf course.
Maybe a new version of the Bible will be published that has a big color picture of Trump playing golf right at the beginning. Look at that big stomach under his white shirt, and the red cap. That's our symbol now: a man who has fooled so many into thinking he's a leader for Christianity, when it should be transparently clear he thinks only about himself.
You might say we have made our bed, now we are sleeping in it. Except, it's best that you not make your bed. I am a mere grain of sand on a vast beach with my influence. And I am surrounded by lemmings.
My podcast for Dec. 30
The Killoran stage: that's my topic for the 12/30 "Morris Mojo" podcast. I invite you to visit. The stage has become sadly non-used and it ought to be a community issue. Let's get some discussion going. Prod some people? Whatever it takes. Here's the permalink:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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