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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