ROCKING, ROCKING

 While reading articles this morning, I suddenly realized that while doing so I was gently rocking back and forth. That motion is associated with one trying to deal with, to comprehend the incomprehensible. It ties to the questions of why, of how, of did it have to happen. Well, the world today induces that rocking, mightily so. We find ourselves facing off against forces and situations beyond our abilities to handle successfully. Consequently, the ensuing circumstances and results are not good, to say the least. Our wheelhouse, shall we say, is way over its limits and frankly, the way out, the way to reconfigure that challenged wheelhouse and its crew appears to be nigh onto impossible.

Approximately 100 nations said they are going to hold the Taliban to keep its promise to allow those who wish to leave to do so. And if not? What then? We tell them to sit on a chair in the corner for a time out? We say, "bad, bad, bad"? Why do we say these things when we know the Taliban does whatever the hell it want to in its twisted mind, in obedience to a bizarre interpretation of the Koran and Sharia - all the better to oppress people, particularly women. Already they are hedging on their declaration to allow free access to education for all by adding these words: 

"Women in Afghanistan will be allowed to attend university "in safety," as long as their studies are in line with the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic law." 

Uh huh. Empty promises, empty threats. In the meanwhile we can add the fact that thousands are hiding in fear of retaliations, against them and their extended families so who are we kidding. These acts have already begun. 

Let's turn to the weather. Oh,, yes, that little storm Ida. What a horror and worse, is that these monster acts of Nature are more and more common. We build levees. They fail. We build moving docks to protect. We pour sand year after year on badly eroding beaches. Mudslides occur with frightening frequency as waters flood the hills already denuded of trees to hold the soil in place due to immense and forever forest fires. But oh, yes, let's rake the forest floors. It is moronic advice like that which propels us into further acts of stupidity and uselessness. All the while we ignore the truth. The answer, if not too late, is to rapidly, and drastically, change the lifestyle that has led to these conditions. Right! Like that will happen! Another uh huh. And oh, yes, never give up hope, for Al Roker is on the job, being buffeted by crazy winds while standing in dangerous waters. Why? To show he is not too old for this reporting?  No one should be out there. The danger is clear, imminent, and can turn for the worse on a dime. Wheelhouse feeling a tad claustrophobic yet?

Not to worry. We are told by officials that this is an unusually powerful storm. Because we did not know that already? As we watched a levee fail? As millions are without power, an entire city's sewage system plumb out of service. But not to worry - just control your thirst and your pee. Sure enough, that will do the trick! Not!!! Admit the disaster.

The Mississippi, that powerful Old Man River, ran backwards! Yes, the awesome winds, close to 157 miles per hour, forced that River to kowtow to a force bigger than itself. But FEMA will be there, right. Yes, but this is not the only "natural' disaster of late, is it? Huge forest fires in the northwest corner of the country. Tennessee floods. People die. Heat batters the country. And all the while, those damned things continue to multiply, fulfilling the Biblical command to "go forth and multiply"!

Last for today but certainly not least, is our stew of the day - Jim Jordan being outed - he spoke several times on Jan. 6 to the leader of the rebellion -  Trump -and oh, yes, folks, get real. Admit the truth. Time already! All this as confidence in our continued existence as a democracy fades more and more. Legislatures dominated by GOP threaten to cast aside voting results that displease them. I shudder. Simple rocking will not alleviate that stress. Not at all.

Finally, the last ingredient, we have COVID, that frightening slayer of so many, that expert at mutation at a rapid pace. Over 100,000 average of daily infections. The self harming idiots who protested masks- why, for G-d's sake- are guess what? Dying! Dying from stupidity. Committing suicide. I have no pity on them, for with them go those they infected. For selfishness. For nonsense, deadly nonsense. For freedom they said. Freedom to die and kill others? Really? 

For those who state they have faith in the Lord and His protection, well, G-d bless you, but if G-d had wanted all his people to die, he would not have prepared beforehand all the brain power that went into the vaccine, the planning, the production, on mass scales, of all needed to combat this. Let us use all that G-d has indeed provided to us.

As the iconic Vietnam era song put it - "We gotta' get outta' this place." We certainly do. There is the well known phrase that "no man is an island unto himself." We are all, all, every single one of us, enmeshed in the same crappy situations. There is no escape. No hiding; the only way out is common sense, cooperation and harsh swallowing of new realities that demand new, creative thinking. We need to turn away from the belief in the validity of lies. Martin Luther stated that "A lie is like a snowball; the further you roll it the bigger it gets." Have you ,us, America, the world, not had enough of the lies, the tragic circumstances it encourages and causes?

Instead we must remember, take encouragement from a statement by Frederick Tennyson. "But Life, being Life, can never die at all. " It is up to us to pick ourselves up off the floor of defeat and hopelessness, climb the steep stairs to the virtues and strengths of Humankind. We can do it. The more we procrastinate, the harder it gets. 

Rocking, rocking.