SIMPLE IS AS SIMPLE DOES?

      Is there truly anything simple any longer? Wear a mask. Nope, it 'offends' my personal rights! Wash your hands. Have no time. The whole thing is a hoax. The protesters are a danger to the country. NO, they are not. It is those who come afterwards who use violence, who are the dangers. They and the "Federal Protective Service". Is your head spinning from the changeabouts of Trump? For sure!
     Nothing is simple any longer. Birx says, "We have to change our behavior now..." referring to the virus, but really, it is about all life now. The 'new normal" is not normal, nor is it new any longer. Politics are being played with the lives of people at stake. Gov. DeSantis should be brought up on charges of colluding with Trump to cause the death of so many Floridians. Trump himself, well.....you know the drill there.
     "Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on."
(Mary Oliver in Wild Geese) 
     So is this the new life, the new normality of us all, moaning, sharing our disasters even as we really do not hear each other, do not share any values any longer, having lost so many of these values as we are ruled by a government of no values other than greed? If so, what a gloomy and doomed outlook for the future. How hopeless and dark it will be in the years to come, if so.
     But there are other outlooks, grim as they are, that also provide that hope. "In battle, in the forest, at the precipice in the mountains, on the dark great sea in the midst of javelins and arrows, in sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, The good deeds a man has done before defend him."
    (Bhagavad Gita)
     Yes, religion, no matter the name, simple faith, and never mind the additions and interpretations mankind has imposed upon them to their detriment, the true faith of a person stands as a defense. Not necessarily against death, but against despair, against a hopeless life. It encourages people to strive for a better world, to be  better people, to be kind to each other, to share in a person's footwear so as to encourage empathy and a better world. Religion is not the only thing to do that, for there are many wonderful people who are not, but they are good, good in their souls, good in their outlooks, good in their understanding that we are all in this together.
     We tend to overlook so much of life that is still good, even in a world that has gone so far along that road to hell in that proverbial handbasket. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in The Hound of Baskervilles, says, "The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes." We are so enmeshed in the miseries of life, particularly in times of doubt, of insecurity, at at time when our values of life are tossed side, when the things and people we rely upon desert us, that we fail to notice that there are people who are determined to not return to the old, but to bring about a better world as an answer to all that. We fail to notice that permission to bring about that change comes from the man in the mirror, you, me, all of us, as we decide our own actions, or lack thereof.
     We do not see the obvious, that we get the leaders we allow. If they are lousy, cruel, morally vacuous, well, why are they there? Why have they 'failed up" until their failures in life have brought them to a peak, a shameful peak for the rest of us. Why have we allowed a crooked, incompetent, demented man and his addled supporters to tear apart our lives, our world? Why? Because it was simpler to joke around with that which is not funny. It was easier to say that "we'll show them" via the vote, but exactly whom did we show? Who is struggling now? The uber wealthy or the middle and lower economic classes? Who is still getting obscene bonuses even as the rest of the country is struggling to pay bills, to keep a roof over their heads, to feed their families? 
     Who, exactly, is reaping the benefits of a terrible tax cut, which put more money in the hands of those who did not need it, kept it out of the country at large, and robbed the Treasury of needed funds to run this country, to fix its crumbling infrastructure, to add jobs, to retrain workers for a new world, to educate our kids, to ensure homes and food to all? You know the answer, as do I.
     We have allowed our world to be turned upside down and then thrown into a whirlpool which will take us down. We have allowed the memories and legacies of good people to be trashed as they are used by current corrupted individuals and Parties. Even as the Trump campaign is told to stop using songs whose writers and vocalists oppose their use, even as the Reagan Foundation tells the RNC and Trump to stop using Reagan in their campaign to raise money, even as lies become truth and truth is the victim of its own whirlpool, we, and we alone, have allowed this situation to grow. It has become an eddy so large, so powerful, that it can  devour all that we hold sacred, all that we know we need, to have a good life in a good country, in  a world just coming to grips with its global issues, the existential ones that will kill us all.
     So what is the obvious we are overlooking? What are the simple things we need to do? Guinevere and King Arthur sang wistfully of the things that simple folks do. We need to recognize that life, too, can be simple. We can walk the straight paths of life. We can have a good life for all. What we need is truth, courage, determination, faith, hard work and defiance of those who would destroy it all.
    The first step is to let our rejection of violence from any and all sides stand out loud, clear, visible to all. We need to sue the Federal Government re their use of their 'new' fascist force. We need to remember, deep into our very bones, with every beat of our hearts, that we are Americans, the living faces of our ancestors' bold decisions to take a giant leap for themselves and their families. We need to allow that dream and hope for others, not to  return to shameful periods of time when we allowed deep, destructive prejudice to shut our gates, to close off desperate people from life saving refuge. We cannot do that again. 
     We are America. We are Americans and accept our role in life. We are the Americans who will defy those who wish to destroy our country. First step - VOTE!! Ensure the safety and fairness of the voting sites. Defy those who would interfere with this basic weave of our country and  its ethos, be they of domestic or foreign origin. Be America. Be American.  Vote to protect that world, the one which is changing, but still can be shaped anew and urged onto the right paths. VOTE for that. VOTE for the good future. VOTE for hope. VOTE for your children's future. VOTE.
    Simple is as simple does.