IN THE KITCHEN

     Many people have taken to the kitchen these days, trying out new recipes, cooking for neighbors who need help, anything to pass the time in a productive manner. One of the items which seems to be prominent in the national kitchen is alphabet soup, along with a blend of numbers. The people who presume to know much, but actually know very little, are so busy trying to think of wonderful names for their programs that nothing gets done in reality. Grandiose multi word programs are substituted for actual plans, detailed plans, and all we seem to get out of it are the acronyms of these named programs, and more inserts into our alphabet soup. Perhaps this is so the citizens of America could spend more time playing with the numbers and letters, stalling the yawning absence of purpose in their daily lives.
     An interesting turn in our soup's letters show a continued overbalance of either a D or an R and these letters have become hot collectibles with supporters shouting and ranting and waving arms, so much so that real talk, real plans, real truths and facts are covered over with these letters. An interesting aspect to these two competing letters is that the R gatherers seem to support big business and quick and dangerous reopenings, while the D fans seem to favor slower paces, more surety of safety and trying to plan for a possible, no, probable, return of another virus wave in the winter - or sooner - depending on how we reopen, test, and develop a vaccine.
     There are so many letters in this soup that we lose track of what they are. Economics now gets bogged down in a surplus of V and W or even L. These stand for the recovery - or not - of the economy . The only thing safe to say here with sureness is that it is going to be ugly, letters with poor structure predominating before we get to the better letters of economics. In the meanwhile, perhaps our new nation of chefs can try to figure out better use of the alphabet and numbers.
     Right now the numbers are frightening, even more so than the letters. 88% of COVID sufferers on ventilators die. The numbers seem to combine themselves into huge multi numbered figures. Each figure scaring the pants off of us and causing us to spill the cooking soup. Future number estimates of the human death toll during a second virus wave and even a third are horrendous, and trying to walk these words back under  pressure from that so sensitive man at the WH is utterly useless. Once words are out they really cannot disappear so easily. Their imprint on the memory of so many, the shadows they cast even in a gloomy, uncertain world remain, etched into the national memory bank.
     This alphabet soup, rich with letters and numbers, albeit many frightening or useless, has become the national dish of America. Some, however, who should know better, are spilling that soup, pouring boiling water over deep wounds that are already there, reopening those wounds that were beginning to heal somewhat. Our cooks are ruining the broth. In fact, it appears that many of these cooks are using the loss of smell and taste as aids in their miscooked soup.
     In the meanwhile, some cooks, dirty to the core, are filling some of the soups with welcoming rich additions as they favor these people. Big business has horned in on the soup bowls of the small businesses, taking the money meant for them - and even Trump companies are trying their best to get in on the party. This, as the people who need this soup, need it to be filled properly, productively, are losing hope, denied full bowls,  denied jobs, as a record 26.2 million people - so far- applied for unemployment, 25 million alone added in April. It is expected that any wrong turns with the vats of soup will cause bad letter recovery setups and double digit numbers of unemployed will persist even into December.
     Back at the ranch, I decided to take a chance and tune in on one of the daily rally broadcasts produced by Trump. Full disclosure - that was a dumb move. It took no longer than three seconds and I was shouting at the man on the screen, nauseated more and more by his blatant lies, one after the other, by his self praise, by his pushing to reopen states, for truly, how long should we deny people access to tattoo parlors or "essential" activities on a beach, or feed the need to have nails done in a most unsanitary environment, one quite difficult to even picture as opened with any way to keep social distancing going. Ten foot files maybe? Ditto for nail polish brushes. As for the soaking basin for feet- well, you figure it out. In the interim,, the soup is growing ever more rancid as the other side of that man's mouth speaks and says that we should take it easy. "It's just too soon. I think it's too soon," Trump said. "They can wait a little bit longer, just a little bit - not much. Because safety has to predominate. We have to have that."  Have the cake and eat it too? Liar, liar, pants on major fire!Treating people with contempt as if they have no brains at all, will swallow all the lies, all the contradictions, believe in the Big Lie, taught by its master, Hitler? Fine people over there, ya know! Even as the man keeps harping on immigrants all the while the needs of the nation, the true letters and numbers, are not forthcoming. A truly non nourishing soup, even a harmful one.
     Pressure mounting. Head pounding. So, to a different arena. How is the alphabet soup here in the Village. The same. It appears that nothing changes. No one is willing to give an inch. No one can even sit still long enough to hear some concessions, some ideas, some path to compromise and better service for our Village. Thus the Village residents continue to suffer from poor service or none at all.
     Need an example, one where there is both room and need for compromise rather than a stirring up of the dregs of that vat of soup. No one is getting nourished here. The WPRF facilities are closed. No pools. No clubhouse. No clubs. No Village library. No shows. No movies. Only walks around the perimeter for amusement and exercise. It is tough, especially when these soup nourishments were an important part as to why we bought here. So now, nothing. Other places that closed have refunded dues and are not taking any more till reopening, whenever that might be. 
     So yes, there definitely should be some kind of a refund, not a continued demand for full payment for non service. Yet, we must be fair. The buildings are being scrubbed within an inch of their lives. The cleaners are working, The plants, the pools, the courts, must be inspected and maintained and I hope they are.This takes money. It is okay to use the proposed partial payment for that purpose. Keep the soup nourishing, yet not overrich. Better for the digestion. Fair to all sides of the matter. Show the maintenance taking place.
    Yet there is no talk, no reasoning on demands. They are sticking to the position without compromising, that being deemed off the table. Why is this? Why can we not finally be smart about this and rather than be enemies, work together for the betterment of the Village, for better servicing of the needs of the residents, for a better soup. No one needs to be making stone soup!
     Too many chefs around these days? Perhaps. Or is it that the cooks, the chefs, the professionals and the amateurs, are neither hearing nor listening to each other, so stuck in the mud of their misbegotten ways are they that the soup continues to deteriorate and the people grow hungrier and hungrier. Nothing positive. No forward movement.
       This has to stop. It must, if we are to work together, both on the national level and right here in our wonderful Village. Nothing ever comes out of strife that remains good for years to come; the same old issues reappear, perhaps a tad changed, different vats, differing letters and numbers, but essentially the same. If we were to work together, to unite rather than to divide, we would get somewhere, a far more positive and responsive state of being.
      Most important of all, we could be living in a world, in a country, where there would be no need to say at a close of conversation - Be Well. Be safe. Think about that and think back to early Feb., when our leaders were negligent in heeding the warnings, how quickly that became the standard. No more simple bye-bye or goodbye, or see ya or whatever. In the meanwhile, till life changes, till the vat gets washed well and the soup really becomes more like a broth or stew, nourishing, fair, until then - Be well and Stay safe.