Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Let's go fly a kite

Outside a pair of doves are courting each other. I have mating pairs of red winged blackbirds, chickadees, juncos, purple finches, goldfinches, nuthatches, downey and hairy woodpeckers, and several kinds of sparrows visiting my feeder. 
Inside though I'm really frustrad or sadstrated. I'm deeply angry and sad and it's all mingling up together. To recap. 

  • March 9- a few hundred cases in the US. Less than 5 in my home state of WI
  • March 10 - Global pandemic declared
  • March 13 - School in our state to close or go online after March 18. Nursing home visits are banned nationally
  • March 16- School to close after the 17th (our kids were already home)
  • March 17 Governor Evers issues all restaurants switch to takeout and curbside only
  • March 23- Governor Evers issues 'Safer at Home' order and even more businesses will close
  • March 24- The Olympics is postponed. 457 cases, 5 deaths in this state.  
    • In the US we are at around 50,000 cases.
    •   Around the world we just passed 415,000 and are rapidly approaching 20,000 deaths.
  • Governor elaborates on his Safer at Home order, saying that schools will be closed until at least April 24th. By the way, this order is also punishable by a fine of $250 AND prison of up to 30 days. 
However, I still think there are lots of reasons to be more reticent of even such large numbers in the big picture of mortality causes and numbers. The good verses bad of all of these restrictions remains to be seen. 

Here, already this week people have lost their jobs, restaurants are falling apart, people are furloughed, my students can not go home to their own countries, and I join the world in collectively feeling so tired. Every security moved in an instant. Even here, without even a nod to democratic process. 


But yesterday I took my kids to fly kites at a beachside park we hadn't been to before. It was a most welcome reprieve. We were the only ones there. And THESE are the moments I'm trying to savor and cling to throughout this whole thing. 




Keep trying to grin and bear it; all of us. 


Resistance, that semblance of control, seems, after all, futile. 

...but democracy shouldn't have to be. 


No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping in at our table! Feel free to insert a link back to your webpage here. We aim to publish legitimate comments. We welcome discussion, even dissension, but please try to be courteous and cite your sources.