Covid death and confusion. Deadly plague or sort of just the flu, but different.
The U.S. leads the world, but in a bad way.
Economy in the toilet. Workers with no jobs. Entrepreneurs and companies giving up the ghost.
Schools, sports, even the NFL. No one knows what to do. (Please, not football!)
Lack of coordination. Lack of leadership. Swishy guidelines. Take it seriously. Ignore it. Politicize it.
Tragedy dredged up centuries of abuse and injustice.
Demonstrations. Riots. Reactions. Extreme reactions.
Hate gets a boost.
The pendulum of reaction swings to extremes as it always does.
Slogans and superficial changes, rather than fixing things and systemic change.
An election between two old men, perhaps both mentally ill.
A whacky long-term insider and a whacky long-term disrupter.
We strain the ties that are barely holding us together.
Politicians and talking heads toss gasoline on the sparks.
We the people, fearful and hateful and simple-minded and suspicious and divided.
The money pours in and the rating are up.
People love this shit.
Hope?
Of course.
But it cannot be summed up in a slogan.
It is not “either/or.”
It’s work.
It’s multiple sources for input.
It’s not fear or hate-based.
It’s shutting up and listening.
Also, speaking up and refusing to shut up.
It’s not always comfortable.
It’s discovering common humanity in people we never understood.
It’s the hard work of love, not the easy way of hate or indifference.
