In the Throes

One of my problems this month has been the week of news covering racial discrimination all over the world. I was ready to move on to solutions. I thought I had heard it all and protested it back in the 60s, yet somehow we were again facing that brick wall that is racism. Discrimination against blacks and other minorities seems to be ensconced at all levels of government. Whether it's the President of the United States being rude to a female black reporter or a neighbor who shocks you with "Us whites have to stick together," it feels like there is no solution.

Add to that months spent inside sequestering by an invisible virus that only kills 1.3 % of the people it infects. (1) Unless you are a member of a minority. Then it is 3.12% for blacks and  slightly less for other minorities.

Add to that the forty million people who have lost their jobs. You have to check out the graph on this page (2) to see the shocking results of the virus on employment.

Add, finally, a week of record high temperatures here in the Chicago area, that often accompanies civil unrest. Undoubtedly, that is a result of global warming. (3)

It's like we are having four crises at once.

So, where do I find hope in all of this? As usual, it's the next generation. They are using social media to communicate worldwide. They have chosen peaceful methods. They are standing up for human rights. 

Yes, my generation got Civil Rights laws on the books in the 60s. This generation says, "Enforce them!" I am so proud of my former students who are making the world better.


(1)

COVID-19: Study reports 'staggering' death rate in U.S. among those infected who show symptoms, Science Daily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200518144915.htm, accessed 6/4/20.

(2)

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

 https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000, accessed 6/4/2020.

(3)

Union of Concerned Scientists, Global Warming FAQ, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/global-warming-faq, accessed 6/4/20.

Pestilence

In honor of National Poetry Month.

Pestilence

First, the news of deaths in China.

Bat meat, they say.

Gatherings here disappear, but not before I wonder

if I will lose any friends.

Pestilence spreads with travelers everywhere.

Countries close borders, though viruses do not respect borders.

Invisible specter, lurking just where we least expect it.

I forget that I am sequestered,

tell a friend to come over, remember we can’t do that.

Fever and congestion cause worry.

I spend my days inside

worrying that today will be my last.

Walk outside every day.

All of this waiting.

The news gets worse.

No symptoms in its stealth phase, then

a mushroom cloud of sick needing hospitals

and morgues.

Scarcities rule the market, our government hoards resources,

doctors and nurses begin to fall.

I notice how many things I touch when I go out.

The news gets worse.

Businesses shutter, workers have no income,

A quiet settles over cities. 

Essential businesses still open 

begin to lose workers.

The news is all-COVID all the time.

Home-made masks are better than nothing.

The news gets worse.

We begin to mourn those whom we have lost.

Musicians, athletes, ordinary people who work in public.

I stare down the existential questions.

Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life?

Answers come in the solitude.

Granddaughters run fevers, send me to my knees.

The news is mixed.

Tweny million people have lost their jobs.

With their jobs, their health care.

The nation has rallied.

We share food, meet in cyberspace.

Drive by shootings are replaced by 

drive by birthday parties.

The news gets better.

A drop-off in new cases in New York City,

people healing from the disease.

A light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope that people will go back to work 

begins to spread.

China lifts its travel ban.

The news gets better.

Other countries are going back to work.

Spring flowers promise a future

with beauty and heavenly scents.

Vaccines begin to appear in labs.

Store shelves fill again.

Government checks arrive in homes.

The news gets better.

Governors coordinate plans

in the absence of federal guidance.

Happy homemade videos counterbalance

network news negativity.

The world breathes a sigh of relief.

It will end.

Unexpected Massive Suffering

Since my last post on February 13, the world climate has changed. A massive pandemic is ravaging our population and we are powerless to stop it. We are doing our best to provide health care for each other, but among the general population, people could not imagine an epidemic. It had been a century since the general population had suffered like this. We should have known from AIDS or ebola or even SARS, but it had to be severe enough to get our attention. Even this month, there are people who are out celebrating their freedom to gather, which hurts our herd immunity. While it is exciting to be a writer during a plague, it is stressful, too. My children are grown and do not need me any more, but they get very angry at any hint that I am not trying to survive.

My thoughts have wandered to the poorest of the poor, the refugees. After leaving a home where their lives were full of poverty or violence, they find themselves unwanted by any country. Living in crowded tent villages, they are now to undergo an illness that kills 3.4% of those who are affected by the “superspreader.” Without clean water, how are they to wash their hands? Without medical care, will their mortality rate be higher?

The character of our country is at stake here. Will we learn from this humbling experience and collaborate with scientists and doctors around the world? Or will we choose the “every man for himself” individualism that pits state against state and country against country? 

Our emotions are ruling the day. Confined to our houses, we vacillate between feeling safe, worrying about our health, worrying about our relatives and friends, and worrying about money. Keeping busy was always a strength of mine, but now even that is not enough. Thankfully, we have technology that allows us to communicate visually as well as in writing. Various people are posting songs, reading sonnets, and offering encouragement online. People are donating food to hospital workers, money for protective gear, and homemade face masks to nursing homes. Let us use this time to search ourselves for the strength of character to weather the illness and the economic chaos it has created. We have never needed each other more.

Our Social Climate

We hear so much today about conspiracies involving evil people, I felt I had to write about my experiences with people who have gone out of their way to be kind to others.

For starters, I live in a multicultural neighborhood with a lot of immigrants from many countries (China, Jordan, Poland, Russia, India.) I also have one family of Muslims living in four of the townhouses in my development and a Jewish neighbor who is one of my best friends. She told me a few  years ago that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She has had it three times, but this was the second time, I believe. One of our Muslim neighbors told her to ask for help if she ever needed it. They said their religion requires them to help others. 

Marcie herself helped me avoid a job loss with her skills in human resources.

When I moved to be near my parents, I had no job and no money. The first gift I remember was a member of my church giving me frozen chicken breasts to help feed my children. 

That Thanksgiving, I received a free basket of food and the person who had created it put a Christmas hand towel on top. That act of thoughtfulness stayed with me all these years (31) and I now collect Christmas decorations for those in our community who live in poverty.

There have been so many others through the years, I will limit this to just a few to illustrate my point. In November, I traveled to Queens, NY to see my daughter. We saw a woman trip and fall on the cobblestone street. My daughter pointed out that a dozen people stopped to help her, and said that people in New York are always helping each other. I have noticed since then that our natural inclination is to help each other. Giving directions to someone who is lost, helping a person with a technology problem, making quilts for charities, pouches for kangaroos injured in fires, providing clothing for immigrants with little or none. It is human to assist others when we can. We do not have less when we give to others. When we share, we all have enough.

I recently drove from St. Petersburg, Florida to my home near Chicago. I made it halfway between Chattanooga and Nashville the first day. It was a small town named Kimball, Tennessee. I woke up at 3:00 AM in a panic attack thinking about dicey situations I had driven through, like high-speed intervals between two trucks with a crazy lane-changer going in and out wherever there was space. I didn’t get back to sleep until 4 or 5, then woke up at 6:15. I decided to try to drive the rest of the way home if possible, no pressure. I did, in fact, make it home by supper time but had forgotten the bag with my technology in the hotel. The hotel owner is sending my computer, and I am so grateful I don’t have to change all my passwords. I couldn’t afford a new computer easily either. So I am grateful for honest people and am sending him a reward, and to the housecleaner. 

I had also lost my debit card that day. When I tried to look at my online banking, there was a problem with my browser. The bank had two people helping me for at least 20 minutes. They were patient and kind and I finally got things working.

I will get preachy here, so forgive me. People are good! The best part of our social interactions was the confirmation of my belief that we are all here to help each other, and that the wisest people know this.

1) Social Climate Research, Bennett, J. B., https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0885, accessed 1/31/2020.