Way back in the Dark Ages when I was in high school, we took three years of math - Algebra, Geometry, and Trig. Those who were nuts, or masochists, or had no other elective that would fit the schedule were stuck in calculus. Shudder!! As of yet, I have found no great big hole in my life that taking calculus would have filled, but perhaps there is an element in calculus that would have helped us all to calculate life these days. (And no, not crazy, just teasing a bit, after all the root is the same.)
Calculating life today is a gambler's game, and the odds are constantly changing. Do this. No! Stop!! Do the opposite. Bulletin:forget the whole idea and here is the latest one hot off whatever press just printed it. Buyer beware!
The main question is how are we to approach life and the major decisions that govern live for the next, oh, I don't know, perhaps a lifetime! Even minor decisions today are rife with danger for who knows who just touched that box of cereal or who coughed particularly forcefully two aisles over and there you are, an opportune home for those danged little droplets.
Even as restrictions are being loosened and I understand why, though am quite concerned re the consequences, my category of over 65 is still being warned to Stay Away! Stay Home! Continue to shelter in place. So what's a gal to do, how to decide how to weigh the risks, be safe and virus free while still living, partaking of life and seeing those kids?
Personally, this policy has not truly been so burdensome for us. We are lucky. I have my books, many TV shows Tivo'ed and not yet watched and new streaming ones almost every day - if we had the time! Somehow we have become so busy that recreational time seems to have lost hours daily. Who knew! And despite 52 1/2 years of marriage and five years before that, we have not run out of things to say to each other, so between phones and What's App and Zoom and Facetime and home projects (warning:leave those books alone!) we have most cerainly not been bored or"quarantine fatigued". Thus, no particular hardship other than the shows and movies disappearing, aching arms that miss a little person to hug - and bigger persons as well - some inconveniences and the worst part - the friends and family members who have suffered with hard recoveries or been lost to the virus. Those are holes that will remain unfilled and it seems that everyday we hear of another loss, another death.
We understand that the economy has been hard hit and we worry for our kids and their jobs. We fear the rising growth of hunger stalking families, the inadequate policy of the government to address that and the rising homelesss issue as people cannot pay rent or mortgages. It is a horrific problem exacerbated by the incompetence of the government, the lack of preparation for something they knew would hit at some pint, and the refusasl to deal with it when it did come a'visitin'! Like an unwelcome guest, it has overstayed its unwelcome drop in to our homes and world, all the while we have fumbled any ideas as to how to deal with it.
How is one to trust, to have confidence, to believe we have leaders capable of informed decisions and proper use of experts, real experts, when these supposed leaders do the opposite and inspire confusion and a feeling of us wandering somewhere in a desert with no Moses in sight.
Listen to what Trump says. No, don't, for not a good idea to drink chemicals. He just took back what he said yesterday, said he did not say it, media is Fake, wants a coup, oh, but he did say what he did not but should have; you just missed it. No, that is not the appointee anymore for he was fired for calling out the President or for not finding the miracle cure in the two weeks he has been in office. And remember, most important, this self praised genius , more likely geni -ass, knows nothing and finds fake experts as quickly as he accuses the Fake News of miscounting his lies and exaggerations!! Remember - he takes no responsibility for anything that has gone wrong or will go wrong or is in the process of going wrong, but will use the stimulus checks as one huge tax payer financed campaign ad. Such a genius! Such an immoral man!
We have passed the 60,000 number of dead, his upper limit, surpassed the dead of Vietnam. We expect an upsurge in the ailing and the dead as states open up in a confused and confusing manner and no one seems to be coordinating this whole mess, once again leaving us in that murky soup without a sieve nor a ladle.
The lawmakers are busy, yes, making trades in their stock accounts, even as the rest of us are on the roller coaster without the same information! The Senate and the chinless, gutless wonder, McConnell, wants to return so they can push through more unqualified judges to continue making a disastrous shamble for decades to come of our federal judicial system and to confirm more know nothings for positions in the government. All the better for some more wolves to bite us!
Not sure of that? Well, pay some attention to foreign policy and what is going on there, with rising tensions and chicken games in the South Sea with China, playing hide and seek with North Korea, heating up the Cold war once again with Russia, the greatest deal on earth went fffttt! We have lost our allies one after the other as we alienate them beyond any point or possiblity of acceptance and understanding, so here we are, leaderless, fumbling around at the wrong time.
Back at the ranch the Demented One is fuming at his inner polls showing him losing to Biden. (Please, G-d, may that remain the truth!) What is the answer? His allies try to shut him up as every time he opens it, nonsense and damage come pouring out. Even as they keep trying to push a dangerous incompetent upon us, all the better for them to enrich their bottom line and hold on to their power.
And yet another brilliant idea. Raise a sexual assault claim against Biden. Yes, he is a touchy feely person, right out to the old school, a custom which is not acceptable today. But, a great big but - one assault claim against dozens of witnessed ones against Trump who has openly stated his firm self beliefs and actions about how he mistreated women and thinks he is so clever for all that!!
Yes, we need to address this issue, particularly with all pols, with colleges, with employers of women - and vulnerable men - and children. Yes, we need to improve ourselves, no secret about that. But we also need to pay attention to real issues of life that affect us existentially right NOW! Include sexual policy changes but do not demean its seriousness by made up claims or ridiculous ideas as the dirty one, the chief pervert, continues on in office,proud of once again getting away and off scot free even as he jumps on someone else. Tarring the other with his own tar.
We have certainly failed this course of calculus. We have miscounted, wrongly added and subtracted, divided and multiplied with false numbers, projected incorrect answers and failed the adjunct course in humanity and concern for others. Would 12th grade calculus have helped us in our calculations throughout our lives? Probably not, right? So where did we go wrong and why do we continue to go wrong? Sigh....I hate math.
All we can do in the meanwhile is love each other, watch out for each other, run those dangerous imposters of governmental skills right out of office, support honesty and virtue, humane policies, a restoration of safety regulations, a proactive government with an eye to past misdeeds and miscalculations, and a strict policy towards avoiding future miscalculations.
We need to calculate properly and correctly for the future generations and allow our elderly population out of lockdown again. We need to be well, to stay safe. Always.
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