No, the numbers of the title are not part of a long and difficult lock combination, though difficult they certainly are. These numbers are proving to be particularly difficult to assimilate, to wrap one's head about them, to understand exactly how the hell they arose, came into being. What do they tell us, plead with us, in unspoken desperation? Exactly what are these numbers anyway.
64 wounded. 12 dead. 7 the age of a child shot dead. All in one lovely weekend. 50.7 the pathetic percentage of the fully vaccinated adults in the USA. 200,000 the number of new cases of COVID a day, a rate not seen since before widespread use of the vaccine.
These numbers are horrifying. They could be added to by more. The unbelievable number of those who continue to remain deluded re the 2020 election. 20, signifying the number of wasted, deadly years of Afghanistan war, resulting in a terrible reality. Taliban rule once again, stoning, beheading, women locked up, hijabs and beards mandated once more and a fricking major loss of lives over what exactly? Of course, let us not forget the capital crime of theirs - flying a kite! Or music.
"We never thought we would be back in that space again" said a health official referring to the pandemic. It is as easily applied to the Afghanistan situation, the violence in America, be it gun violence or political violence. A simple aside - Florida, where I reside, is among the top(?) five states in new cases and pandemic problems. That all comes home to roost on the roof of DeSantis! Particularly demoralizing when we have the dubious prestige of being second (behind the benighted state of Texas and its backwards governor) in number of children hospitalized with COVID. Hey! But what the heck! Keep up the fight against masks, for surely we need to protect our "body integrity" and never you mind the body mortality of our children.
"Nowhere to go for safety. Everything is out of control." So states a frantic father whose family is stuck in the horror that is now Afghanistan once again. And again, those two sentences are easily as applicable to the situation in general in this crumbling world of ours. And ours it is, for we are the ones who allowed this situation, fostered its growth, denied the truths, closed our eyes to what was and is happening and will continue to happen. Why? Why the denial? Who the hell knows. So many excuses. So many willfully blind and deaf to the truth and the tragedy of it all.
All the while, the nasty political wars continue, sniping and lies abounding. Denial of spoken words, memorialized in the internet even as they are deleted, all in service to the political game. The GOP takes down its page boasting of Trump's great achievement signing a peace treaty with the Taliban, insuring withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan. Now, they deny this fact, blaming Biden, now mired in this horrid situation, and all for naught!!! And those poor people, once again under the most repressive rules of life ever promulgated and imposed on a nation. What man hath wrought!! All in the name of G-d!
Trump continues his false, divisive, violence inciting, poisonous clarion all for Biden to "resign in disgrace", especially as he was "not elected legitimately". These lies, these lies, as holey as the claim of "lovely, peaceful people" at the Capitol on Jan. 6, obviously looking for ideal picnic areas! Not!! This, as one of his chief legal advisers, mired in his own particular world of dementia, Giuliani, now facing national disbarment, states that its okay to 'throw a few lies" to the people, and his partner, Mukasey, states there is "no obligation to tell the truth" to the voters. Ahh, such legal beagle eagles, such role models for future lawyers.
But wait. Last, but certainly not least, for all he has done, for the lies that fall from his mouth like the waters over the Niagara Falls, is our wonderful, gracious, lie spouting, nauseating, drawling, mealy mouthed Lindsay Graham. His hypocrisy is amazing. He denies his words of Jan. 6 condemning it and the president. He tells Joe Biden never you mind over our ripping on your son, Hunter. Never you mind, for it is merely part of the game. I am still your friend. Huh! With friends like that .....well, you know the rest.
Oh, did I forget that pesky last number of 666. That, for those who did not know, is the number that signifies the devil, the Devil with a capitalized D. At times it feels, looks like, the Devil has a hand or two or three in the mess that is the world today. Perhaps he is sitting on the shoulders of too many, urging them the wrong way, down the wrong path, towards perdition, taking the world along for the ride. Wondering about the moles on some people......
Folks, we have such difficult questions and conundrums to tackle. We have Gordian knots galore with no Alexander the Great to slash it open. We are sorely lacking in inspiring leaders, at least on the good guys' side. We are stuck in quicksand and the ground around us is bare of helpful shlepping points. Helping hands? Out to lunch.
Where are they eating? Don't know. Nor do you.
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