WHAT NOW?

The hits keep coming, don't they? I am tired from the past few days. Feel like I've watched news non-stop for most of my life now. In the spring, which feels so far away, so not part of this reality anymore, I remember feeling a sense of dread every time I got a notification on my phone. What new horror was happening, I'd think. 

I feel that way again.

I think we are all still processing the events of this past week. Well, of this whole election. Of the past four plus years. There is something wrong going on here in the USA. More so than usual. If this were a Greek play, we'd be in the opening sequence, talking about how the Gods are angry, how there must be blood in the land, and sins to atone for before the bad times depart. 

It feels like the streets are full of Flat Earthers on steroids.

Or being at a party stuck with a slightly drunk fellow party goer who is hell bent on explaining to you their theory about what really happened at the end of Lost, and you just smoked a joint so it feels like every second is about an hour.

Or one of those dreams where you realize you are dreaming but can't make yourself wake up, even though the dream is horrifying.

Choose our poison.

We are being tested, daily. Our values, our thoughts, our hopes, our dreams... our priorities. Do we believe in science? Do we question authority? Do we look beyond the internet for reality? Is our society working properly? Do we really love our neighbors as ourselves? 

Do we have the courage needed to hold to our convictions?

I hope so. 

It just seems like everyone is choosing their path. Some people I know have become even more amazing, loving, kind, thoughtful, and inspiring. Others have gone to the dark side, if what they post online is to be believed. 

And a crowd of angry Americans stormed the capitol, and a few of them beat a man to death with a fire extinguisher. 

That is fucked up and sad.

So. What to do? I am not sure. But I do believe one hundred percent that this is the time to love this earth, this life, our fellow human beings, and all things great and small. This is a time we must listen to music, dance in the streets, smell the roses and the coffee, and celebrate being alive. 

If the world is ending, take it all in before it goes.

I plan on writing in this blog more. It helped me during the early phase of the virus, and it helps me now. If it helps you too, awesome. I will still keep watching the news. I will still get into spats on social media with folks who think differently from me. I will have good days and bad days. 

But I will go on. We all will. 

Glory, hallelujah, nameste.

Here's a song. It's a live version of Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon.

DAMN THE TORPEDOES (and a small portion of the population)

Ramon, a good friend of mine from college, noted the other day that we keep time now by the death toll. Grim, but true. So many people. And the numbers will continue to rise. I've seen on social media, and in real life, people arguing over the numbers, as if if it were only say twenty thousand dead, that would make it ok. That if maybe only a million people got sick, and only, when it's all over, maybe 40,000 died here in America, then it would be cool to open up on the early side of things. I just don't want to here that. Of course, I do and will, but enough already. People are sick and dying. It's a global pandemic. And we are at the beginning of what will most likely be another Great Depression. No way around it. It seems, if we just said "Hell with it, torpedoes (and a small portion of the population) be damned, we're opening everything back up tomorrow", that we would still be screwed as far as the economy goes. I mean, oil closed yesterday at negative $37 a barrel. Meaning, if you could get to where ever it is they actually sell barrels of oil, you would be given $37 to take a barrel. Kind of tells you maybe things aren't so good in the market. So yeah, we are in for some Hard Times. But we've seen hard times before, as a nation. We had a Civil Freakin' War. We had the Spanish Flu. We Fought World War One, World War Two, and had The Great Depression in the middle. In the grand scheme of things, we, as a nation and as a species, have dealt with some serious shit. And we got through them all.  And, as far as I can tell, we didn't get through all those horrors by having better access to hair salons. Or more beach parties. No, we got through them with love.

I think that's the first ingredient you need to make it. Love. Love of life, of your fellow human being, and of yourself. Once you get Love, you move on to courage. Courage to take care of those things you love, regardless of the cost. And once you find that courage, you bid adios to Fear. And once you do those three things, miracles happen.

Feel free to call me a hippie, a commie, a Californian. I take all those as badges of honor anyway. I
dig it. It's groovy. Not that I am perfect. Far, far from it. Of late, I have struggled with great anger and dismay at what some of my fellow Americans, and global citizens, have been doing. Lashing out at one another. Marching with signs demanding hair cuts, massages, and who knows what else. Not following social distancing, or wearing masks. And then there's the current administration, who seem more and more like a death cult of some sort. Like those mutant people who live under the ruins of NYC in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, who worship a nuclear bomb because, well, they're nuts. It saddens me. So many lost, lonely, angry souls who seem to be desperately clinging to ideas and programs that have clearly failed, on a massive scale.

We are on the brink of a depression because the system has been weakened through greed. Want of money is indeed the root of all evil. Pick a problem in the world, and it almost always comes down to greed. Desire for more, even if it costs others. Some folks think that having more than others sweetens the pot.

Well, fuck that. Those days are over. Time to rise up. As I was taught in high school biology, we must adapt, migrate, or die. We're not quite ready to move to another planet yet, so migrating is out. Death isn't really a desired option, so scratch that. Adaptation is the only option left.

Let's do this thing.

And also, let's keep the post office. It is way cheaper than Fed Ex, DHL, and UPS.


Here's a song. It's the Beatles cover of Mister Postman.