The Real "Two Americas"

Yes - and we see it all around us. There are two Americas.

No, the dividing line is not race. People of all races are on both sides.

No, the dividing line is not wealth. For the poor and rich, too -- along with the many of us in the middle -- are here again on both sides.

Where the line is drawn is between those who look to the heavens -- and to make like itself heaven. And those who look similarly at hell.

How ironic that we Americans can right now with our literal eyes, as well as our minds, focus on either.  That this very weekend the literal "heavens" are again ours, as Americans and as human beings. Or, if we prefer, we can look into the jaws of fire and death.  At the "Dragon" above -- that beautiful creation of the creative minds and hard work being done at SpaceX  -- this one taking us to new heights and a bright exhilarating future. Or at a more traditional "dragon."  One totally of the earth. One that breaths death and fire.

Yes, it's our choice.

Well, largely.  But some are being forced to look neither up or down, but around them. This with fear and trepidation.

But there, too, there have been choices made. Some live in communities and literal cities that have aspired upward. And others that have dragged themselves downward. And they chosen that course every election day by choosing others whose eyes are affixed on what is below - or on ethereal promises that never pan out because they are not built on anything more solid than wishes and lies.

Dreams are one thing, wishes quite another.  Which we have -- where we choose to look -- is ours to decide.

Two Americas. One of hope, the other of bitterness and hate.

Choose with care friends. Either can be yours.

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"Cool it!"

So yesterdays 'big vid' was an iPhone one of a "mob" in a Staten Island supermarket angrily driving a non-mask wearing woman from the store. It, within mere hours of being posted, had some 6 million views.

I myself found it interesting to see the media equally (it is worth noting) on the left and right, blaming the 'other side', while, again equally, saying such anger was 'understandable.'

Is it?

If so that is not because the actual 'crime' of going unmasked is of such gravity, or that the actual danger this non-mask wearer was bringing into an otherwise "safe" environment was so.

No, what the video actually was displaying is the level of fear, anger and angst being brought into more and more communities. Fear, anger and angst strong enough to make otherwise normal, peaceful, citizens turn into a profane screaming mob. -A mob going after a hapless woman, to drive her from their midst.

Is there a lesson here? Should there be?

I think so, yes. It is for us to, in the common vernacular, "cool it."

And for no one is that message so important as for those of us who like to post about these things. -Be they informal posts here on Facebook, or tweets, or the more formal posts that some of us make in the form of webzine articles and blog entries.

Yet it seems few -- and again, this seems equally true on the political left and the political right -- liberals, progressives, conservatives, Trump haters, Trump lovers -- no one seems willing to stifle their apparent need to increase the level of fear and rile up additional anger.

It is easy to blame he politicians for this -- and yes, they certainly bare some of the blame. But from what I observe they are as much answering the call as making it themselves. (That is what politicians do -- they reflect the people's own passions and fears. -That is quite often the secret of their supposed 'success.')

So no, the blame cannot and should not be placed on politicians exclusively.

There's an old meme that says that when we point a finger at someone the other three are pointing right back at us. And here that is certainly true. For you cannot fight division by calling for yet more division. You cannot quiet anger by further raising it.

I have earlier posted in one of these personal 'my thoughts of the day' posts that my writings are no longer welcome at publications that used to gladly receive them. That at first, as the concerns I am raising here about us not being fear mongers and dividers became a theme, this caused my submissions to be subtly edited. Then such were rejected entirely on the supposed grounds that the publication just had 'too many article on this subject.' And then, finally (just last night) my being frankly told that my pieces on this subject -- my calls for mutual understanding and the importance of quelling the growing anger -- no longer matched the site's "theme and purpose."

Our nation has seen such division before. Back in the 1850s a then presidential candidate had warned the nation that "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

Interestingly those words themselves were taken by some to be an intended prophecy. The crowds hearing them saw such as a call for further division -- a call for war. And indeed that is just what history tells us happened. The most bloody war, still, in the history of our nation.

Is that where we are heading again today?

Some think so, yes. That while others firmly say "no." But so far at least few seem willing to even try to quench the growing fear, anxiety and anger. And fewer still seem willing or able to quell their own anger and divisiveness.

You and I, friends, do not individually have the power to change the course of human events. But we can choose to add to these passions -- or, if we think it wiser and better, to instead help quiet and subdue them.

I do not personally share in either this anger or in this pessimism. But *whatever* comes I have determined that I will not add to the growing angst. I will no be its multiplier. -That my words will stand for principle with firmness, but that I will at the same time, to the extent my understanding and ability allow, be a voice for concord and peace. And I here implore others to scrutinize themselves and to make that same choice and determination.

Things are hard enough already. We do not need yet more anger, fear or angst. Not in our homes, not in our lives, not in our supermarkets and no, not in our nation



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We -- Our Thoughts, Feeling, and the Ever Present Here and Now

There is a "truth" that we, even the most 'truth seeking' among us, can fail to see. It is that we are all influenced by the proverbial here and now. Where we are, physically, yes. But also in our mind (who is influencing us) and emotions (ditto). And that "now" means today. The present. And our own personal experiences that give all the above mentioned things their context and meaning.

This is so for me as much as anybody. My physical and emotional circumstances lead me to be optimistic and largely untroubled -- well, apart from the theoretical and philosophical. (I am at least as troubled by the increases in 'snark' and outright nastiness, and what such is doing to the quality of our lives, as I am by the actual effects thus far of the virus.)

But I live in an area with few cases of the virus -- none that I could even name -- and have a life (as I have in earlier posts described) that is little influenced by others. -Not just what they *do*, but equally what they *think.*

If we by physical circumstance, and as much by our nature, are more greatly influenced, then our outlook will be different. There is no "right" here -- and by that I equally mean that word as in 'what is so' as "right" in the sense of moral goodness or justice.

Those who watch TV are seeing and thus mentally living in a different world than me, for I watch no TV -- neither "news" or talk show stuff. So just as one may see a different world when looking out of their window or going out of their literal door, one will also be seeing and relating to a different world within their head and imagination.

All those 'worlds' are in a personal sense equally real. You have yours. I have mine. Each of us has his or her own.

And we each "see" tomorrow based on our own, personal, yesterdays and todays.

The famed year of "Woodstock" there was a more fatal viral outbreak going on than there is today. But life then simply went on with most of us then taking little notice.

Why was that?

Because people back then had seen far worse calamities -- and the inhabitants of today's world have seen and experienced so few that to many what has come to be called "micro aggressions" has for some time dominated their thinking and feeling. And these are (or were until now) seen, believed, and accepted to deserve that depth of emotional space.

My point here is not to challenge that, but merely to point out that such is like a person to whom a "cold day" is 40 degrees f will see "cold" differently than one who has experienced long winters where minus 40f is a real and experienced possibility.

One sees a 40f day coming and gets out a sweater. The other gets out a pair of shorts and prepares to celebrate a heat wave.

And so it is for each of us. Experiencing -- not just physically, but in our heads and hearts -- a different world in this time of virus.

One will see the need for yet more shutdown, the other for throwing off at least some of the now commonly accepted restraints.

This can be made "political," but on a more essential level it is not. It is just each of us, and all the rest of mankind, living out our own lives based on our own experience and circumstances.

The above being so we must make room for one-another. In my eyes It is our failure to do *that* which we should most fear. Far more than the virus.


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Sides? What "sides"?

In the world of political dreamers there is one TRUTH.  In the real world many ideas need to coexist -- this to match genuine tensions and conflicting "truths."

And the above is not just true as regards political theory, It is so to one degree or another about every 'reality' about us.

Take, for instance, the words and thinking of Dr. Fauci  and the words f those who say it is absolutely essential that we start to again open up both the economy and our personal lives.

Does a tension exist between these ideas?  Absolutely!  Is one side "right" and the other "wrong"?  No.

When Dr. Fauci speaks to his concern that even small openings bring risk of additional outbreaks -- even serious ones that effect many people  -- is not "wrong." But neither are those who point out that more lives could be damaged -- indeed, likely will be! -- if fear of the fact keeps us in lockdown.

Yes, both are "true."  Both are real dangers. 

These are dangers that sincere politicians have to face up to -- but that 'false' politicians -- those more interested in gaining political advantages (yes, possibly on BOTH sides in this debate) -- prefer to deny.

"We are right; they are wrong." "We care about people, they don't." Some on  both sides are shouting that.

I say: "No!" Neither side  can claim absolute right here -- neither closers or the openers. The dangers are real. oth those of reopening. And those of staying closed.

No decision will be free. Neither decision will leave lives untouched. -Some for the better, some for the worse. And that with infinite unknowns that will determine which was wiser and which less wise in each individual case.

This basic understanding is what in truth will separate the ideologues from the real world doers. 

There are sides here, but there are no "right" sides.  Just tough decisions needing to be made -- made equally with boldness and humility. -Two qualities needed but less and less seen in American affairs..

Let others "take sides."  Let us decide to listen and reason and speak and act with those same two qualities in place. Boldness and humility.  Working together towards a common goal -- that of making America again a united, vibrant, healthy, land of freedom and liberty for as many as possible.

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Let Us Watch What We Allow Ourselves to Become

Some people like excitement, others like quietude and peace. Some people prefer to always be in a well ordered society, with plenty of "rules" to keep it so. Others prefer complete freedom and maybe even a daily dose of hurly-burly or mayhem.

No matter where we fall on the above mentioned sliding scales NONE of us like this virus thing. We chomp and stomp. We rail. We do or do not willingly submit -- be it to the virus itself or the restrictions its appearance have placed on our lives.

All of the above is normal human behavior. Part and parcel to the wonderful differences that make us "human." And if you love people -- as I try to -- you have to at least try to love all of this.

But there is another reaction, or set of reactions, to the virus that I for one find quite troubling. It may, too, just be "human," but it none-the-less is a destructive aberration.

Maybe not a truly rare one, if all of mankind and all our history is included in our field of view, but it was  once a rarity, and now not too uncommon, among such as I considered my friends.

The "it" here is a willingness to buy into bullshit.

Sorry, but how else could I equally well put it?

All the concurrent 'blame game' stories making the rounds on Facebook and filling people's screens care of YouTube and who knows what other sources.

"He" did it. "They" did it. "It's all a hoax -one perpetrated by You Know Who."

Rubbish!!!!! It is none of those things. It is a virus. A disease semi-organism -- not a true life form, but of this earth. One of many such that has ravaged the human family for all its history. "Smart" if being able to outsmart smart people makes something so. Clever. Ingenious even.

But what part of the universe isn't?

And what part of it required being made by men to be so?

Yes, it is that. An evil-to-us component of the natural order. One that is effecting our lives uninvited. Challenging many of our assumptions about... well about almost everything.

Few of us can fight this semi-organism. So instead we deflect our angst towards what we know how to fight. A "seeable" enemy (even if such is just in our imagination). A "boogie man." He. They. Them.

Some couch this in political language. Others in words with religious significance. Yet others in pseudo science. But whatever words or images are used it is all just what I said earlier: Bullshit.

Please friends... Be frustrated. (How can you not be?) Be scared. Be angry. Be whatever you need to be to cope with what we are together facing. But do not fall for "it." For by doing so you degrade yourself and hurt the human family -- both those near to you and those far away.

This particular virus is new. But challenges like this are not. What may be new, though, is a generation of men who thought they would forever be free from anything like this.

Guess what folks... we're not.

It -- the virus -- is destructive enough without letting it destroy our world. Without allowing it to turn us either back, or away, from everything we have long held dear.

Reason. Trueness. Love. Fairness. Kindness. Understanding. Personal strength and endurance.

Please, friends, hold on to those things. Let us not gravitate towards those uglier others.

Got to be a 'culprit,' right?

I watch as myths build up -- ones that confirm people's previously held viewpoints about how "real" the virus is, where it came from, and whose "fault" it is.

This is human. We all look for confirmation. And today a hungry media sees satisfying that need as a sellable product, if not directly then once removed.

The left blames the right. The right the left. China blames America, America blames China. Domestics blame people from elsewhere, urbanites blame ruralites ("It was their political choices that led to this!)  On and on. Infinitum.

No doubt some blame resides here and there.  But on a deeper and truer level this, I truly think, is just something that happened. -Something we were so open for with today's speedy and mass movement of people and the things they carry that the wonder is that it took until now.

And we thought... No, we DEMAND!... that we be free of it. That others carry the burden. "They" "Them" The other."

Such is, yes, understandable.  But it is the flailing and wailing of children.
Grownups need to see farther. And do better.

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"Give me liberty or give me death"

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Those famed words spoken by Patrick Henry were once learned and revered by every American kid. Today? Maybe not. But the truth and spirit behind them is far from dead -- and we are seeing this in a myriad of ways across our land. Ways that demonstrate the 'real deal' as Henry's words meant them to be understood. -Not as a mere slogan, but as a challenge, a sometimes dangerous wager, a true willingness to put one's honor and even one's life on the line -- just as Henry himself did along with all his compatriots during the time of this nation's founding.

To Henry facing such challenges ever meant a willingness to stand opposed to the common thought -- to reason for himself and then to act. This even to the point of opposing the ratification of the proposed American constitution -- this because he feared it put too much power in the hands of a distant government -- a power he wished to keep closer to home and more personal.

Is that spirit dead? Thankfully, at least to me, it seems not. We are seeing examples of it across our blessed land.

We need not in every way agree with one-another and what we each do in our personal battle for liberty. But we can (and should) take responsibility for ourselves -- and, like Henry, rejoice when others do the same.

Each of us today has a battle to fight. For some that may be best fought quietly and serenely, in-doors. For others it may be out on the streets, in shops, or even, perhaps, on the beach.

May those words, too, be our mantra. "Give us liberty or give us death"

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All Those Coronavirus Contradictions - How should we deal with them?

Contradictions. Contradictions EVERYWHERE.  That is what the coronavirus has brought us.

Yes, even here, for my own postings could at least appear contradictory.

The why of this is simple -- and important to understand. Both the coronavirus disease itself, and the way society is dealing with it, is new. For that reason even long held understandings and beliefs are being challenged by it -- and not just once, then leading to a quick, firm, conclusion, but over and over again.

Too, the 'sales pitch' is vacillating and to some degree hollow, and to some degree that must be so, for it is being worded so as to make 'the sale' today, not tomorrow. And with us entering new territory almost daily, with new and contradictory information about the virus almost daily coming forth, so the 'sales pitch' will change and change and change yet again.

Case in point: Masks.  First the public was told not to wear them, then, later, that they should.  Is this not evidence of duplicity?

The answers to even that one question in itself calls for some contradictions.

Why were people told not to wear masks if in fact they were useful?  The answers to that are simple in fact, but not so simple to accept.

One was the mask shortage.  To build up the stock available to those forced to face the virus close up -- medical personnel, for instance -- people not being faced with daily exposure had to be discouraged from wearing a mask.  "It'll help you stay safe, but you shouldn't wear one anyway" simply is not an effective sales pitch (There's that phrase again!)  so the pitch was "you don't need 'em."

Truth?  Lie?  As every parent knows such things are not as black and white as that. At least not as 'so' as is the importance of keeping those in one's charge "safe."

And on the other side there was the simple fact that if one was following the safe spacing directives when one had to be about, and staying in at other times, wearing masks was in truth generally unnecessary.

But yes, the above did reveal contradictions. And some people for various reasons will see such as "lies."

Then there is the level of contagion.  At first unknown.

But could they tell us that?

When a parent tells their children never to speak to strangers they are commonly moved to do so by a genuine fear.  But try to put the realness of that fear into numbers?  I bet speaking to strangers is safe 99.9999% of the time.  Yet the charge not to speak to strangers is still a good one.  Are the parents giving that advice then "liars"?

And to all the above we need to add the principle of cause and effect.

Right now the death toll is far lower than some feared that it would be.

"There! They lied!!!"

No, not necessarily.

First of all, it is reasonable to think that the 'lock down' and social distancing has made a major difference in the spread of the illness.   Too, lowering the end number of those made ill was not in truth the initial purpose of the lockdowns, the closures, or the social distancing.  That's where that much maligned "flattening the curve" idea comes in. And again, at least in part, that was a sales pitch.  "You're gonna get it anyhow - just at a more convenient time" just isn't a good selling message.   So instead people were told to do those things so as to stay safe.

In fact, if the coronavirus does follow the seasonal rules that many other viruses have followed, many, many lives will have been saved.  But only now are we getting a real glimmer of hope that such is so -- and already at work.

All of the above, yes ALL OF IT, contains ifs ands and buts.  Changing information. Changes in focus. Various legitimate concerns that themselves to some real degree contradict one-another.

And in all the above I have not mentioned the current hot button subject: That of personal freedom being threatened by questionable laws and decrees.  What is truly temporary, what is for a short time reasonable (and legal) -- both open to interpretation -- and questions with answers that must be predicated on a certain level of trust -- a thing being brought into question by everything mentioned above.

Which brings us full circle.

Yes, contradictions are everywhere.

Children will most certainly struggle with that. Teenagers  even more so.  But we adults should at least be able to understand and make some room for it, realizing that in the real world such contradictions are not necessarily emblematic of evil.

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