Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 26
June 16, 2020
Diary 89
Monday, June 15th
For the past three nights or so the otherwise utter tranquility of our covid-19 world has been slightly disturbed by the sounds of fireworks. At least I think that’s what they are, although I could see no soaring cascades of lights. Ever since the Marathon Bomber shootout I’ve been alert to things that sound like gunfire. It just doesn’t feel celebratory to me. And what would people be celebrating? Has any one else noticed these sounds?
In the news – our “president” wants to stop the publication of John Bolton’s book. A covid survivor gets handed a medical bill of $1.1 million. Something about those two items sums up the situation at the moment, at least for me.
June 15, 2020
Diary 88
Sunday, June 14th
We were talking about what it is we’ve learned during the lockdown, and my wife said that it was, in fact, a time of unlearning, a time when we can see that many things we usually did were in fact rather stupid.
This struck a nerve. A few days ago I was walking along the river bank and there before me was a fine old red brick factory, converted to office space. It had a tremendous open space around it, noble old trees and a clear view of the river. Peeping through the windows I saw rows and rows of empty office cubicles, none of which took advantage of the view, the natural light, or the huge windows. Of course not; they had to look at computer screens. I thought that this was a work environment that no one needed – like turning your back on Yellowstone Park.
We could unlearn that cubicle lifestyle.
June 14, 2020
Diary 87
Saturday, June 13th
Today was my beloved wife’s birthday – something she shares with Queen Elizabeth, although I think my wife is infinitely more important, at least to me. Croissants and coffee, scrambled eggs, cake with a side of berries, and a candle – just one to demonstrate that age is simply a random construct – hand-drawn and painted cards from grandchildren, electronic messages of all kinds, and much love and happiness.
A sadder note is that Atlanta police officers shot and killed an African American man. The Police Chief resigned. A restaurant was burned.
At West Point Bonespurs addressed the graduating officers and gave a military type salute. He, who so signally failed to serve.
June 13, 2020
Diary 86
Friday, June 12th
I think I’m getting a little bit used to some of this, perhaps. I mean, my ears now stick out at odd angles because of my mask elastics, and my nose is flattened by the pressure of the fabric, but, truly, I might even be improved by all these changes. I also am careful to remind myself to wash my hands whenever I’ve been out and about. In a normal flu season these would have been really useful tactics. How many times have I been stricken by some ailment that these actions could so easily have prevented?
And because we can’t do much else we’ve been forced to acknowledge the gross injustices in our world. I hope we’ll never ‘get used to’ those, or to the needless covid deaths.
What I’m getting used to is that the citizens of the US are finally starting to protest, after some years of quietude and even despair. Protest is a sign of optimism and empowerment. Without it things cannot get better. It’s not a bad tradition.
Recalibrating, as my GPS used to say.
June 12, 2020
Diary 85
Diary 85
Thursday June 11th
The protests seem still to be moving ahead – an astonishingly long-lived public demonstration against an astonishingly deep-rooted injustice.
Statues of confederate generals, British slave-traders and Belgium’s King Leopold III (arguably the worst genocidal oppressor of African lives of the lot, weighing it at 10 million Congolese killed) have been knocked down. And yet…..
The fiasco that was Georgia’s election would seem to be a direct threat to any sense of future equality. If people can’t vote, how can their views be heard?
This will be a long road; just as covid-19 is not yet over by any means.
June 11, 2020
Diary 84
Wednesday, June 10th
The official number of confirmed covid-19 cases in the USA today topped 2 million. That’s 2 million people sick enough to turn up and ask for help, who were actually counted, and the total does not include those who died before they could be tested, for example.
Please – continue to take care.
Today was also the second day our local Charity shop was open and accepting donations. We’d had a huge heap of stuff we’d collected before the lockdown (especially the lightly-used grand children clothes), and I’m sure it would have been useful to someone – if only we could have got it to them. Now we can.
I think that during lockdown plenty of people had major sort-outs of stuff. Marie Kondo would have been proud of that. While I was delivering boxes of donations at one end of the store my wife was snapping up bargains inside. I think we returned with marginally fewer items than we arrived with…..
June 10, 2020
Diary 83
Diary 83
Tuesday, June 9th
The news that a very few people had driven their cars and trucks into peaceful protesters was greeted, generally, with disgust and outrage. The use of potentially deadly force against a peaceful crowd seems absurd; and if these were gestures designed to enlist support for some cause or other, they failed.
Fifteen days of peaceful protests, and they continue.
More deserving of our attention is the fact that the Georgia Primary was a mess of broken voting machines, long lines and people unable to vote by mail. Really? In the USA? This is the best we can do?
George Floyd was buried today. Huge crowds turned out to mourn him.
The pictures are from a walk we took by the river. Dog roses seemed to be everywhere and perfumed the air. The path was created by dedicated bands of people working with the city council for many years. Good people working together can create miracles. It’s an inspiration to us all.
June 9, 2020
Diary 82
Diary 82
Monday, June 8th
Today in Massachusetts was the first day of easing the lockdown. Things seemed fairly much as before, but more stores were supposed to be open. I didn’t go out to search for them, so I’ll have to assume that it was hardly a Black Friday type scramble. The Guardian (US edition) reports that the lockdown did reduce the infection total by an estimated 81%.
People are still getting infected, though, so don’t do anything rash.
In my neighborhood I keep seeing signs that say ‘Hope’. Yes, there is plenty to be hopeful about. I think many things will change from here on. Wearing masks during flu season will now be acceptable. Hand washing will be a habit we all know to continue. I suspect there will be a whole lot less wasteful travel to meetings and conferences now that we can use Skype and Zoom.
Better yet, we know we have work to do on equality, and on saving the planet (us, that is. You and me). We can’t pretend it’s all done and dusted.
June 8, 2020
Diary 81
Sunday, June 7th
And still the protests continue, peacefully. People truly are astonishing, generous, and in love with positive change.
Minneapolis City council has pledged to defund and abolish the Police Department. Other cities are mulling the same idea.
In England today the statue of the notorious Eighteenth Century slaver Edward Colston was pulled down by a crowd, then rolled over the dock wall and into the harbor. About time.
We are, all of us, starting to face the ugly legacy of centuries of racism and oppression. That slaver, and hundreds like him, made some people in England wealthy, and made some people in America even more wealthy. Slavers were blessed by the Bishops in Winchester and London whose brothels funded the Oxford Colleges and sent the Empire Builders out to loot Africa and India… These are all the results of profits created out of human misery.
This web is deep and frightening. We must face it. We are brave enough, and we have enough love. The time is now.
June 7, 2020
Diary 80
Diary 80
Saturday, June 6th
Today was the 76th anniversary of D-Day – the turning point in the war against fascism, many would argue. I wish we could say that struggle was over.
The lockdown is easing in some places, but please, people, let’s make sure we do our research. The death rate of those known to be infected is, in Massachusetts, 104 per 100k people – about one in a thousand. In Hawaii the rate is 1 person per 100k, or one hundred times less. Not all locations are equal.
Children in my area continue to leave little ‘love notes’ to passers by.
Today saw the biggest protests so far converge in several cities. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to join by evening, and for each one who does we must surely know that another 12 to 15 people wish they were there but couldn’t go. I won’t know until tomorrow, when I post this, if the situation remained calm. Some days I’m afraid to look at the news.
A point that occurs to me is this: no one is born hating others and no one is born acting recklessly. Almost everyone is reasonable and loving at heart. Let’s try to operate from that space as much as we can. Let’s remember who we are.
