I am working. It feels good to say it, or in this case commit it to virtual paper. After 3 months of furlough waiting for a return to my former employer and another 3 months of unemployment after being informed my position was being eliminated, I, once again, get up in the morning and head off, suitably masked of course, to work.
I am grateful, that through luck, frugality and adhering to a tight budget, we managed to emerge from this period economically unscathed. I feel for those not as fortunate as we. I feel for those lined up at the food bank I pass on my commute. I feel for those losing homes, struggling, victims of an unprepared administration.
Our country is an imperfect, dysfunctional union. Factions still battle factions. This could have been a period of unification. people working together and taking measures, fair and patriotic ones, that would have made this time less difficult for everyone. But the present administration, selfish and heartless, completely lacking in empathy, does not unite us but spreads hate, fear and division.
My hope is that the country is growing tired of this hate, this division, the countries emotional disease, just as they are growing weary of the still necessary mitigation efforts needed to control the physical disease we are experiencing. My hope is that the goodness and kindness in our country will rise once again to defeat the distress and despair and fear of those, different than us, with whom we share our country. I hope we begin to unite, heal and realize that one side or the other does not own the country but that we are all in this together.
