A Question

A question for those who are bitching and moaning and whining about having to wear a face covering when in public:

Do you wear shoes when you go to the store? Do you wear pants when you go to the store? Do you wear a shirt or a blouse when you go to the store? All of these regulations have been around for decades, presumably without protests.

So if you don't complain about those restrictions, and if you don't think they are taking away your constitutional rights, then what’s the big deal about wearing a mask for a few minutes when you enter a store?

We are in the midst of a public health nightmare than has, so far, taken the lives of more than 105,000 Americans. Our health care workers are overwhelmed. Businesses and employees are struggling to survive. But you're upset about being asked to wear a mask?

Is it too much to ask for people to wear a face covering when in public places? And exactly which "constitutional rights" have been taken from you? As far as I can tell, the constitution makes no mention of the right to be free of wearing a face covering.
 
Isn't this country facing enough challenges -- high unemployment, business closures, a pandemic that continues to kill hundreds of people every day, police murder of an unarmed black man, and now, riots and looting in major cities across the country -- to just wear the face covering and shut up about your 'constitutional rights"?

Memorial Day 2020

Today is Memorial Day in the United States.

It is a day set aside to remember and honor American members of the military who gave their lives in service to our country. Memorial Day was first celebrated on May 30, 1868. The day didn't become a federal holiday until 1971. 

The numbers of military war dead are staggering:

• 53,402 American military personnel died of combat injuries during World War I
•  In World War II, 291,557 Americans died of combat-related injuries
• The Civil War took the lives of an estimated 750,000 military on both sides of the conflict 
• 33,686 American military perished in the Korean War
• More than 58,200 American military died in the war in Vietnam.
• The war in Afghanistan claimed 2,355 American lives.
• 4,418 American military died in the Iraq war.
• Other American military lives were lost in a variety of attacks on ships and installations 

I also like to remember the countless dogs, horses, mules and other animals that were killed during battle. Some 8 million horses, and untold numbers of mules and donkeys, died during World War I. The German army alone killed 2.7 million horses. 

I haven't seen a total number of animals killed in wars, but the numbers must be appalling. I have long believed that there should be a memorial to these forgotten participants, who had no choice in the decision to go to war, in Washington, D.C.

So please, spare a few minutes today in silent thanks to all those who gave their lives in service to our country. The usual parades and ceremonies have been canceled due to the pandemic, but go ahead and fly your flag and remember all those who died while serving America and preserving our freedoms.

I Love Summer

I love the summer.

Technically we are still in spring. It is, after all, just the middle of May. But I live in the high desert. The outside temperature is supposed to reach 88 degrees F today The humidity is 18 percent. The sky is a brilliant blue with some scattered clouds. So despite what the calendar says, it sure feels like summer.

I love feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin when I go outside. There is something so life-giving, so energizing, about being in the sun. Long gone are the days of my youth when I would cover myself with baby oil or with dark-tanning oil "for a deep, dark tan." Now I wear a hat and sunglasses when I'm outside. I wear sunscreen if I will be outside for more than a few minutes. But I always will love the sun.

I also love the light that fills my house on a sunny day. That's one of the things that prompted to me to buy the house in which I have lived for the past 10 years. This house has lots of big windows and five skylights, so it is a cheerful, light-filled house. And New Mexico has 300 sunny days a year, which is great for my morale.

I like waking up early on a summer's day, when it is light enough to safely walk my dogs before 6:30 a.m. (There are coyotes in the area, and I want to be able to see them). The air is fresh and cool, the winds calm, and few people are out and about. And the pavement is cool so it won't burn my dogs' feet. 

I remember visiting my grandparents when I was a youngster. They lived just outside a very small town in southern Illinois. Their house was heated by a coal-burning stove during the winter, and it didn't do a very good job of keeping the house warm. There was no air conditioning, not even a window unit. That meant that sleeping on those hot, muggy nights was a challenge. I remember sitting with the adults in the shade of a large, leafy tree in the back yard when the weather made it impossible to run and play with my brother and cousins, who lived just down the hill.

One of the best things about summer is the abundance of fruit: fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, watermelon, and my favorite of all, peaches. There is nothing better than a fresh, ripe, juicy peach. I have two peach trees in my yard, one of which produced an abundance of wonderful fruit last summer.

Summer exercise is so much more pleasant than winter exercise. Throw on a pair of shorts, a pair of walking shoes, a hat and a short-sleeve shirt, and I'm good to go. Winter exercise requires a hat, gloves, scarf, sweater or sweatshirt, heavy coat and sometimes, winter boots. What fund is that? I feel like the Pillsbury Dough Boy by the time I finish dressing to go for a winter walk.

I love living in the high desert. It can get hot (100 degrees or so), but the humidity is typically low (I have seen it as low as 5 percent). The high altitude, lack of pollution and low humidity make for some amazing clear blue skies.

So come on, summer!

Meeting the Challenge

It's a challenge, to be sure.

My challenge during this third month of the pandemic and the accompanying stay-at-home order is to look for the good, for things that make me happy, for the things I appreciate.

I woke up yesterday just past 4 a.m., as I usually do. I didn't want to get up so early, so as I lay in bed I made a conscious effort to appreciate my wonderful mattress. It's so very comfortable. I listened to the quiet of the world outside my open bedroom window. I enjoyed the cool air from outside and the gentle breeze of the ceiling fan as it spun silently above my bed. 

It was then that I decided that, rather than dreading yet another day just like yesterday and the day before that and the day before that, I would look for the good, at least for the day at hand. 

I am reading an e-book that has captured my attention. I took my dogs on a nice walk on a beautiful, cool morning. I had many choices of what to eat for breakfast. ( A small bit of leftover egg salad and half of a deli chicken sandwich on sourdough were on today's menu.) This pandemic is giving me lots of things about which to write in this blog. Writing is something I have enjoyed since I was in middle school. It provides a creative outlet as well as a release for emotions. I enjoyed a nice walk on a sunny, warm but not hot, day, with New Mexico's brilliant blue sky above me. 

Because I don't sleep a lot at night (6 hours is a good night's sleep for me), I often enjoy a mid-day nap. I can't always fall asleep, but it's so nice to try. As I sit at my desk, I look out on my beautiful, desert-friendly yard with the towering Sandia Mountains beyond. I love the quiet and privacy my 1/2-acre yard provides. 

A short evening walk rounded out the day.

Focusing on the positive yesterday wasn't really hard. I think that starting this change in thinking before I even got out of bed set the tone for the rest of the day. Will I be able to continue this upbeat attitude until things are more or less back to normal? It won't be easy. 'Normal' won't return for months at a minimum. I know I will continue to be challenged by more trip cancellations, boredom, lack of photographic opportunities and just plain inertia. I find that there are days when, in addition to my usual 4 miles of walking, I pace, often in my back yard. I guess it's a way of burning nervous energy, eliminating some stress and enjoying being outside. 

Saying this has been a 'challenging' year is a huge understatement. We are all struggling and facing unique challenges. I hope I can continue, one day at a time, to meet the challenges I face with calmness and a minimum of stress.

Will We Be Better?

Will we? Will we be better humans once we get through this pandemic?

I have read comments online about how people hope that we humans will not return to business as usual after the pandemic is over. Business as usual has left too many Americans struggling to survive, while corporations and the extremely wealthy accumulate more and more wealth. Business as usual has left millions of people without health insurance and savings. Business as usual has left too many people working two and three jobs with minimum wages and no benefits.

People hope that we will learn to once again be good stewards of the earth, that we will again care for our neighbors, that we will be more compassionate and kinder to each other. They hope that the ultrawealthy will suddenly start to care about the workers who create their massive wealth. That universal health care will become a reality, and that healthcare will no longer be tied to a person's employment. They hope that racism and gun violence and anti-Semitism will no longer plague our country.

Sadly, I cannot share their hopefulness. While this pandemic has brought out the goodness in some people -- people who shop for their neighbors, who bring them food, who check on them, who risk their own health to care for the sick -- it also has brought to the surface far too many people who don't give a rat's ass about anybody else.

These are the people who refuse to wear masks, who take their assault weapons to protest business closures, who block access to hospitals and who threaten the lives of medical professionals because they don't like the informed opinions of the physicians and epidemiologists. These are the people who shoot three teenage McDonald's employees for stating that the dining room is closed. These are the people who shove a park ranger into a lake for reminding people of the social distancing orders. These are the people who hoard toilet paper and hand sanitizer. These are the people who shoot a security guard in the face for telling them they can't enter a discount store unless they wear masks. These are the people who open their businesses in violation of state ordinances. These are the people who care only about themselves. These are the people who demand that the old and the frail sacrifice themselves on the altar of the economy.

I am not one of those people. I am doing my best to not only keep myself safe, but others as well. I wear a mask when in public. I stay home except to pick up meals or groceries at a drive-up. I thank the people who bring me my food or put my groceries into the back of my vehicle. When I leave, I tell each person who has helped me in some way to "Stay safe." I tip more generously. I have donated money to my local food bank, to Meals on Wheels, and to a fund to help widows and orphans in Africa whose livelihoods have dried up with the end of tourism. I check in with female friends who live alone. I practice social distancing. I try to help local restaurants survive by ordering meals online and picking them up curbside.

These things are easy to do. I don't reveal these actions because I'm special. I'm not. I don't talk about them because I am seeking praise. I'm not. I am merely an ordinary American. I know that not everyone can afford to donate money; I am fortunate that I can help others in this way. But there are things each of us can do that cost no money.

Every one of us has the opportunity to be a good person. We can choose to be kind and compassionate or selfish and greedy. We can follow the directions of our governors and public health experts, or we can put people at risk by ignoring them. We can greet our neighbors as we are going for a walk, helping to alleviate feelings of loneliness and aloneness if just for a couple of minutes while still maintaining social distancing. We can thank the grocery store employees who ring up and bag our order. 

My father and his generation went to war to defend this country. He lied about his age and enlisted in the navy when he was but 17 years old. He took part in the D-Day landing when he was 19. His ship was sunk. He and the others sacrificed a lot. Some of his fellow sailors died. The only 'sacrifices' we are being asked to make is to wear a mask when in public and to stay home. That really isn't much of a sacrifice at all. Stores require people to wear a shirt and shoes in order to enter a business, so why is there such an objection to being asked to wear a mask? 'No Shirt. No Shoes. No Service' isn't met with violence. Why should being told to wear a mask be any different?

This could be, this should be, a time for us to pull together, to be willing to make the small sacrifices we are being asked to make for the good of our country. Americans have a long tradition of coming together during difficult times, for the good of the country and for the good of our fellow citizens. 

Sadly, this is not one of the times that shows Americans' at their finest. I am ashamed by the behavior and rhetoric of far too many Americans. While doctors and nurses work without proper protective gear as they struggle to save people from this horrible virus, others can't be bothered to wear a mask.

The death toll (probably underreported) from this pandemic is just under 87,000 in the US. The population of the city where I live is 89,000. And still the death toll rises. And still people refuse to wear masks in public.

Why are so many acting like spoiled, entitled brats during this pandemic? We should be better than this.

The State of America

I am nauseous.

It's just before 6 a.m. As I do each morning, I glance at cnn.com and at my Facebook news feed to catch up a bit on what happened during the 10 hours or so since I last checked in. What I saw both depressed and sickened me. This is the state of America 2020.

• In Georgia, a young black man went out for a midday run and was gunned down by two gun-toting white thugs.
• The US death toll from Covid-19 reached 77,000, with the worst yet to come.
• Donald Dumb named a top Republican fundraiser as the new postmaster general, adding further threats to the survival of the US Postal Service. 
• Three McDonald's employees were shot after telling a customer to leave because the dining area was closed due to coronavirus restrictions.
• Donald Dumb, who always has to be right, at least in his own mind, contradicted a nurse he was honoring as part of National Nurses' Day  when she stated that the supply of personal protective equipment was "sporadic."
• A Salute to Nurses parade was crashed by a gun-waving driver in Pennsylvania. 
• The administration has shelved a CDC guide to safely reopening America.
• In Ohio, the House of Representatives voted to limit the authority of the director of the state department of health, a physician, to restrict stay-at-home and mandatory closure orders.
• Thousands upon thousands of people are going hungry after losing their jobs.

Things like these, and so many more, are why I feel nauseous and often wake up with a persistent headache. I have serious doubts that America will survive the hatred, the incompetence, the greed, the corruption, and the divisiveness hat have been, and continue to be, inflicted on the country.

Life in a Third World Country

I am living in a third world country.

No, I don't live in Africa or South America or some small country most people have never heard of. I live in what once was the greatest country on the planet -- the United States of America. 

Here is one definition of third world country: "Third world countries can be defined by high poverty rates, economic instability, and lack of basic human resources compared to the rest of the world." If the US isn't yet a third world country, it certainly is moving in that direction.

I have visited third world countries. I have visited countries where wealth is held by a handful of oligarchs. 

Does this definition fit the US in 2020? Let's see. Poverty rates have increased dramatically since the federal government's bungled response to the coronavirus pandemic. The economy is certainly unstable. The stock market (not a measure of the economy at large) has been all over the place, with dramatic swings up and down. A successful stock market benefits only a small portion of the US population.

In the United States (which is anything but united) in 2020,

• The federal government is confiscating and hiding critical medical equipment and personal protective supplies ordered and paid for by various states as they confront the coronavirus pandemic
• The president pledges to approve no more aid to American citizens and small businesses struggling to survive in the face of massive closures unless Congress includes provisions to gut Social Security
• Medical personnel are forced to wear plastic trash bags over their scrubs as there aren't enough protective gowns for them
• The president refuses to let members of the coronavirus task force testify before Congress
• The government appears to be downplaying the number of estimated deaths from the pandemic
• Rather than buying food from struggling farmers to provide to food banks facing huge demands for food, the USDA allowed millions of pounds of produce to rot in the fields. Farmers have dumped millions of gallons of raw milk.
• With restaurants closed, the market for fresh produce, meat and milk dried up. The USDA could have bought much of this surplus food. Instead, it did nothing.
• The president ordered meat packing plants to reopen despite several deadly outbreaks of coronavirus among workers.
• Our infrastructure is crumbling. Bridges collapse, roads are full of potholes.
• Financial assistance for small businesses was instead given to multi-million dollar corporations.
• Billionaires are getting even richer, while the poor and middle classes struggle to survive. This is typical of third world countries, where nearly all the wealth is concentrated in the hands of only a few.
• In Florida, the governor has ordered the state's medical examiners not to release statistics about the number of coronavirus deaths.
• After receiving billions of dollars from the US government (i.e., American taxpayers), major corporations such as United Airlines are now laying off tens of thousands of employees. And the money these companies received to help them through the lean times? It's going to stockholders.

If America is to survive, much less thrive in the future, we must fundamentally change the way business is done, and the way employees -- you know, the low-paid people who actually do the work -- are paid and rewarded. Our economy and our society must change, as must the human view of the world at large.

I am fearful that after the pandemic nothing will change. The rich will continue to hoard money. The working classes will continue to scrape by. The political system will continue to be in the pockets of corporations and lobbyists.

I'm glad I won't be around to watch more of the destruction of this country, its way of life, and the decimation of the planet. Sometimes it's not so bad to be old.

I Don't Understand

I just don't understand.

I cannot comprehend why people are so opposed to wearing a face mask or other face covering (bandana, buff, etc.) when in a store. Please give me a logical explanation. The mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, reversed his decision mandating that everybody wear a mask when in public after just a few hours because store employees were being threatened both verbally and physically when they informed shoppers of the rule. Really? Why not have store security or available local police enforce the order? Sadly, a store security officer was murdered today when he refused to let someone into the store where he worked without a mask. Murder? A man was murdered because someone refused to put on a mask. There is no constitutional right to shop at a given store, so don't try to claim that the government is taking away your rights.

The wearing of masks is the best available way, in conjunction with social distancing, to slow the spread of the coronavirus. So why is there so much opposition to these simple steps to help protect public health? I don't like wearing a mask (it steams up my eyeglasses), but on the rare occasions I enter a store, I certainly wear one. And yes, the government does have the authority to order the wearing of masks during a public health emergency. The same is true of orders for social distancing and the closing of non-essential businesses. And despite claims to the contrary, gun shops, craft stores and nail salons are not essential.

The stay-at-home orders, social distancing, mask orders and the closure of non-essential businesses all are legal, and legitimate, actions during a public health emergency. You terrorists calling yourselves protesters march around with your Confederate signs and your placards declaring "My body. My choice." So does that mean that you now support a woman's right to choose? No? So the right to control one's body belongs only to the ultra right wing protesters?

Enough whining about how the government is violating your constitutional rights. Have you even read the Constitution? Your rights to do what? To infect countless others with whom you may come in contact? Your right to threaten store employees who tell you that you must wear a mask while in the store? Your right to intimidate legislators by storming the statehouse while armed with assault rifles? Your right to contract a disease that so far has killed nearly 69,000 Americans and infected nearly 1.2 million people? Your right to threaten the lives of healthcare workers who risk their health daily as they care for people with Covid-19? Your rights to be jackasses? You are not being oppressed. Your rights have not been taken away.

Your claims of individual rights do not outweigh the rights of others to remain safe. Your right not to be forced to wear a mask does not outweigh my right not to be infected by you. Your right to crowd the beaches and parks does not give you the right to possibly spread a deadly, and costly, disease. And along with rights come responsibilities. You want all the rights but none of the responsibilities that come with being part of a community, a civilized society. You don't get one without the other. But you don't care about your responsibilities, do you? All you can do is to feel oppressed and to regurgitate the lies fed to you by the alt-right groups that fund these so-called protests.

Author and pastor John Pavlovitz describes these home-grown terrorists as "miserable people." I don't know whether they are miserable or not, but I do know that they are selfish, self-centered, hate-filled people who care only about themselves. Maybe these people lead miserable lives. Maybe they have not shared in the opportunities this country offers. But that is not a reason to threaten others. And not surprisingly, all of these home-grown terrorists are white. How do you think the police would respond if a group of screaming, assault-rifle-brandishing black people or Muslims acted the way these good ol' boys do?

These people are not being oppressed. Their rights are not being taken away. Walking around with their Confederate flags and assault weapons doesn't make them patriots, and it doesn't restore whatever "rights" they think the government is taking from them. Maybe they don't care if they get sick. But shouldn't they care about making others sick? What about their parents or grandparents? What about their diabetic sister or their friend with asthma?

To quote New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, "It's not about your life. You don't have the right to risk someone else's life. And you don't have the right, frankly, to take a health care staff and people who are literally putting their lives on the line, and be cavalier or reckless with them."

America used to be a country of people who helped one another, who pulled together for the common good. In some cases, that remains true today. There are people making masks, donating money and food, looking out for each other. But in far too many cases, it's all about you, what you want, what you demand. What happened to contributing to the greater good? What happened to caring for one's neighbors? What happened to doing what is best for the country at large and not about what you want? What happened to making sacrifices for the good of the nation? And let's face it: the sacrifices we are being asked to make -- social distancing, wearing a mask, staying home -- aren't much in light of the pandemic.

My father and both uncles fought in World War II to protect America from fascists. My father took part in D-Day. His ship was sunk, and he spent several hours in the cold waters of the North Atlantic before he was rescued. Americans at home made their own sacrifices. Women took over working in factories producing armaments while the men were at war. Housewives made do with rationed sugar, butter, jams, jellies, firewood, meat and footwear. Now 21st century Americans are protesting because they can't go bowling or get a haircut. They are supposed to wear masks when in public. Oh the horror! The injustice!

In a word, get over yourselves. Start acting like human beings and not like a bunch of spoiled brats having temper tantrums.