PAIN AND TIME

    I cannot remember another time when I had such sustained pain. Not even after knee or shoulder surgery. Never do I recall a time when it is so consistently difficult to get into and out of a bed or even a chair. Along with that pain comes an incredible change of time. It stretches out as one tries to handle it. On the other hand, it passes by quickly as it runs out and away with not much to show for it. It is kind of like the situation we have now in real life, the life of our nation and our citizens.

Our time now is painful. Our citizens are being taught to suspect one another. We hear of  a frightening 'army' out for bear who will poll watch  for the GOP. Think of hulking, armed creatures intimidating some little old lady out to vote as they surround and loudly challenge her as she drops off a ballot or stands in line waiting her turn to vote, a privilege and right of American citizens.

Time is  a fleetin' as the days prior to Nov. 3 quickly run through the hourglass of time. We are antsy, anxious to have this done with, anxious to hear the results, even as we know the days will drag on until all votes are counted, all challenges over with, and  decision rendered. The question now is whether America will survive these days, this questionable, challenged election, this extremely possible emerging Civil War II on its heels. Will America survive or are we now running through the last days as we now know it, as a democracy?

The pain we feel in our bones, in our hearts, makes it all the more painful and drag through time even as it also races. Do we have enough time to rescue, save, our country? How do we even survive until Jan. 20 with a madman at the helm, whose madness is exacerbated by the weird combinations of toxic drugs administered to him, many of which have dementia, hallucinations, and psychotic behavior as side effects. 

How do we remain alive as we are whipsawed through changes of policy within hours, as the stock market loops crazily, as the world grows ever more concerned? How do we live on as a healthy entity with a crazed tweeter running the show, with any sane person remaining either fired or sick with the virus. Even his own son, Junior, remarked that his father was acting crazy in the hospital. Well, most of us know that he is irrational almost 100% of the time, ill or not!!

With Dr. Fauci warning us that a bad fall season could leave us with 300,000 to 400,000 dead by end of year, time seems even more constrained even as it appears to race by. The pain to people as they lose loved ones. The pain to people as they must forage for food for their families, as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads, as they lose their dignity and pride, as the middle class disappears into poverty. We watch with tears  in our eye as confused elderly, without their meds, grown too costly for them, as their income for retirement shrinks all the time now, wander, alone, lost. We watch American children with those same huge, confused eyes, bellies swollen, hunger ravaging their bodies. This is what happens when an economy shatters, no hopes of a fix in evidence.

The only answer is to get out there and vote, to fight against the pain or use it as a goad to faster action and quicker healing. Vote is the way. Vote is the direction we need. Vote, vote, vote for our future, for our life as a nation, for our kids, for our survival, for our recovery from our present painful situation. VOTE!! Let us be America again.