It is the anger which disturbs me most. A world wide pandemic, an opportunity for U.S. citizens to band together, to show support and compassion for others even though isolated from one another. A chance for our increasingly online society to use social media to truly connect at a time when we needed to be physically distant.
But there was no calm, reasoned voice. There was no leader to unify us. States were left on their own to attempt to control a virus that does not respect borders. Locked down states fumed at those with more lenient guidelines. Maskers tempers flare when confronted with those that chose not to wear them. Anti maskers deride those wearing them, calling them sheep....or worse. Armed rebels storm state capitols demanding their perceived rights to return to a pre pandemic time, ignoring reality, and by doing so delaying a future return to more normalcy.
Although it has been ascertained that the mass protests, most peaceful, did not contribute to a surge in cases, there to the message was sheathed in anger. End systemic racism and defund the police were shouts heard through out the gatherings. What was missing were detailed, concrete, workable, fair and just proposals to address these, as well as a myriad of other issues which our country needs to confront. Some took advantage of the anger, fueling the violence we witnessed that first weekend. They deface and topple statues and monuments not seeming to understand that you cannot erase history. But, if you care to study, you can learn from it.
There seems to be a lack of interest in history among many of the young people of today. As advances in technology move at an ever faster pace what happened 15 minutes ago becomes irrelevant. The young are justly angry. Saddled with life long student debt, falling financially behind the generation before them they witness the destruction of the society, economy and ecosystem they are inheriting. Yet, in Chicago, the small surge we have seen in recent days coincides with the reopening of bars. A third of the new cases are identified as young people in a nightlife heavy neighborhood. Fun first, solutions later, if we get around to them.
We are all justifiably angry. Spending weeks confined to our homes and apartments, many of us unable to work, this period was, for many reasons, an opportunity squandered. Instead of embracing and comforting one another we continued to squabble, fight and argue, spurred on by the division sowed in the last few years.
Maybe in the back of my mind, that tiny bit that has not surrendered to cynicism, where the remains of my naivete dwell, the place where you can still find that thing some refer to as idealism, I had hoped for seismic change, perhaps I will have to settle for an incremental one.
Maybe, in the back of my mind, that tiny bit where my naivete
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