Will some changes be permanent?

Haven't you wondered: might some of our behavior and thinking be changing permanently? Are we re-thinking how some of our institutions operate? The institutions have been clinging to hope that they can hang on to some semblance of their normal way of doing things. A big reason is that so many of the people who work in these institutions have a vested interest in the standard way.
Even before the pandemic, I suggested often that we not defer so automatically to the bricks-and-mortar system of education. There was reason to question so much of our standard or legacy systems. "Legacy" means holdover. And these things can reach an expiration date.
The curtailment of so many of our standard systems will certainly make us wonder about funding them. So far, the sheer shock of the pandemic adjustment has put budget questions on the back burner. So many more immediate things to have to deal with. I think with time, as we receive new tax news about what we owe, we might say "whoa" and ask questions.
Institutions are hanging on like our local library with highly restrictive rules. The library typically has lots of special events. Can it have any now? The library is a highly cherished asset under normal circumstances. I'd be the last to push for any austerity then. But our world of right now is so drastically different.
Kids can learn "remotely." Well of course they can, but the big pregnant question staring at us is: should we still pump tax dollars into these institutions like before? If fall school sports is going to be shoe-horned into spring, can we justify funding all of that stuff as if normal life continued?
Aren't these quite pressing questions? And I'm not the type to rail about how we pay too much taxes. There are many people out there who are inclined that way, and surely there will be a crescendo of those voices soon, won't there be?
Do kids need their regular teachers at all, if they are at home learning remotely? Part of the teaching faculty's job is to supervise kids and apply discipline in the building throughout the day. Remote learning completely eliminates that responsibility. A few weeks ago I saw the news item about UMM hiring a new assistant football coach. If there is no football season, what will this person do and will he get paid for doing it?
Schools as we speak are retreating from initial announcements about how they'd try to resume with some normalcy; reality is intervening, as if we should feel surprised by that. There was an announcement from Princeton University yesterday (Friday): on-campus stuff nixed. The Mid-American Conference just this morning announced it is nixing football for fall.
The Minnesota High School League announced just a few days ago the cancellation of football and volleyball for autumn. I will wager that when we get into September, and so many local families feel the pain of emptiness, they will become irate in a way they have delayed until now.
It has been somewhat easy to delay our anger because 1) the pandemic is still a rather new phenomenon, and 2) summer is such a slow time of year, we accept the relative idleness. The start of a new school year is like a sugar rush for so many people, even many people with no kids in school. I have felt it all my life.
The odds are high for a "second wave" of the virus. Dr. Fauci said "inevitable" a while back. Then, poor Dr. Fauci got pressured to politically backpedal a little. He revised his comment to "it doesn't have to be inevitable" or something like that, and I would interpret this as conforming to our present-day instincts of feeling optimistic about everything. The stock market never goes down, right? It might plunge on a given day, naturally, but we learned it always bounces back, within days even, and the pattern is so set now the media has stopped paying attention when it does plunge.
Of course it is the Federal Reserve acting as puppetmaster with the stock market, as if with magic incantations or something like that. Seriously, the Fed's perverse actions have drawn lots of skepticism and there could really be hell to pay, maybe hyper-inflation. Have we all forgotten how scary inflation is? It's actually happening now but it's not "hyper" yet. When it's "hyper" you'll know it.
I have made a permanent change in my lifestyle by realizing I can cut my own hair. My hair obviously doesn't have to look like a "pro" cut it. If Dave Evenson was still here I'd still go to him, just because I enjoyed seeing him. And, by visiting him I might pick up some "local news nuggets," heh heh. Just like the Leslie Nielsen character in "Police Squad" and how he'd visit the "shoeshine guy." The shoeshine guy would just want a little extra tip. Dave had a sign in his shop: "Tipping isn't a city in China."
I miss seeing Dave and Yvonne in church. Our church will have an outdoor service tomorrow (Sunday). But as with so many other institutions, autumn will bring a shock: no more in-person fellowship with church AT ALL. It hasn't sunk in  yet. The sheer pleasantness of summer keeps it from sinking in, knaves. Property taxes will make us start asking some hard questions. It is not unreasonable.
 
Please visit my podcast
"A fleeting time of year" is the title for my August 8 "Morris Mojo" podcast from Northridge Drive.  Such a pleasant time of year but, well, transitory. I invite you to click on permalink below. You will learn it is against the law to tease a skunk in Minnesota! (We know how that would turn out.)
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/A-fleeting-time-of-year-ehs400
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com