ANCHORS

     Imagine yourself floating peacefully, on deck of a magnificent yacht, surrounded by beautiful blue, sparkling, calm waters. A wonderful way to spend a day or a week, but suddenly the yacht is flipped over by a freak superwave and you find yourself underwater, not knowing which way is up, floundering, your breath running out. How did this happen? Why did this happen? How to get out safely, finding a way back to safe waters, calm waters, and reanchor in this new safe harbor. How? Where? Those are major questions that do not always have easy answers, or indeed any.
     I love the peacefulness of the ocean at rest, the calmer waters and manageable waves, the sun warm on the skin without burning, and the ssshhhh of the water. It is calming as no other sight in the world, lending itself to thought, to mindfulness, to hope and confidence. Yet it can quickly turn threatening, dangerous, so the question is: where and how do we find safe waters in which to anchor?
     It is a natural need and want to anchor one's life and those of loved ones in a safe harbor, venturing out into unknown only if well prepared and informed. Safe harbors allow for civilization to grow, for the beauty of arts and cultural activities, for that which makes life useful, productive, enjoyable and progressive.
    Today we find ourselves with no safe harbor. They have all turned on us, and we find ourselves on a new huge ocean of rogue waves, ugly waters, a sky blustery and gray, and major leaks in the hull. Our engines are working at low capacity and our tools prove to be useless as we find ourselves facing new configurations and combinations of obstacles, unable to find nor reestablish that safe harbor. No matter where we point the boat nor where we find ourselves, those harbors of safety are gone, our previous knowledge useless to a large degree.
    Add to that the human factor. We seem to be unable to work together in a common cause and without that, we are nowhere. We behave as "partisan combatants" as we are warned against that by former leaders. We are told by a present day leader that "We are never getting out of this" if we do not change our behavior, our patterns of life.
     Even as we rock, roll and plunge in the waters, a toy in its power and majesty, there are those who refuse to heed the words and the warnings. They know better, they think - or do not think - and encourage rebellion, endangering not only themselves and others, but life itself. 
     Worst of all is when the ostensible leader of a country, in defiance of all that is safe, wise, tested and true, enmeshed in his own cocoon of safety, unlike the citizens of the country, encourages these dangerous people in their behavior. He tells them to "liberate" themselves and their places of living, to forget the danger they are creating, to ignore their own selfishness and ram through the lives of so many. And then he boasts about his words and deeds. Certainly, an inducer and encourager, an enabler, of anti social and dangerous behavior. 
     The very first principle of life, of safety, went out the door, wrapped in stones and chains, and sank to the bottom, with constant new weights dropped on it. The value? Truth. Honesty. Lies became the currency of government and too many were sucked under by the force of the waves of lies, even as they latched onto these lies in hopes of saving themselves. Unfortunately, we find our roiling waters even worse than ever.
     Suddenly we find useless and antiquated ideas and theories thrust upon us as possible answers to our situation. They do not work. Then the responses and suggestions to overcome the angry waters are inverted, never again to meet the oncoming danger to our remaining safe harbors, to our endangered existence with the one weapon that will work - the truth. 
     Instead, falsehood has become the currency of the day, paper oars to use instead of powerful engines, lies the daily words of the day as plain and unvarnished facts are totally falsified, so much so that we all find ourselves overcome, inundated by new heights and powers of evergrowing and ever more powerful waters and waves. We are drowning. We are dying. In droves. And the numbers are fudged, as if the waters are not proof enough, as if the piles of bodies awaiting disposal, burial of any kind, are clearly seen, packed in morgues, in trucks, no room, no time for burial or mourning.
     Even as we splash uselessly in those dangerous waters, we shout, protesting, that the numbers were given to us and "Numbers never lie...they don't contain hidden agendas or shades of gray. They're pure and true." But in our fears we forgot. We forgot that "It isn't until people start meddling with them, spinning ad shaping them, that they become dishonest." Thus, we, the people, find ourselves adrift with very little help around, certainly not in the very near future. 
     Worse, what if help never comes? What if the waves never stop? What if safe harbors become a thing of the past? What if help comes but not before life as we knew it, even as we know it now, will be no longer? No magic medicine, no magic vaccine, no knowledge at all that will calm these waters and the death rates. Those numbers that do not lie - well, they will be with us, even as we attempt to cobble together some type of floating city, clinging to life in a vastly changed ocean, unable to find safe harbor.
    Part of this is a natural event, for viruses exist. Part of this is carelessness of mankind, forgetting or ignoring the boundaries between man and the world of animals and Nature. Part of it is sloppiness, greed, the need for power by some, the cruelty of man to others. The percentages do not matter; only the consequences. And do not forget the causes. Do not forget the arrogance of man and his defiance of the rules of nature, of the truths of life and existence.
     We forgot them, ignored them, lied about them until it was and is(?) too late to calm those angry waters. Yet we must try. We must learn how to tame these waters, make our amends and learn to value truth and the calm encouraging waters and world it can produce, allow to thrive.
     It is up to us, We must make wise decisions. We must look to the truth, as things are, not as we magically wish them to be. We must color within the lines and venture out of them carefully, with forethought and preparation. It will be a differnt life, but it will be life. We will be able to hug our loved ones, to chat with friends, to walk freely down the street or on a trail, shop with no bare shelves, just different ones, but we can survive. We need the will and the way and the way is truth, unity, wise leaders, and cooperation. Only then will we be able to once again be in true calm waters, live in safe harbors.
     In the meanwhile, do your best in these difficult times. Try not to whine, for others have it worse. Cooperation is the word of the day and that, along with the truth and good, honest, knowledgeable leaders will bring us through these roiling, boiling waters to where we will always be well and always remain safe. In the interim, that is the mantra of the times: Be well, stay safe.