Listen To The Wave

Listen. Listen fully and deeply. Hear the deafening silence. The near-total silence of the Big Red Wave. The Big Red Wave that did not happen. Instead, listen to what else we can hear. The excuses. The finger-pointing. The sounds of the blame game.

The voters listened well. To the lies. To the hypocrisies. To the threats of violence. And the majority of those voters – whether labelled as Republicans, Democrats, or Independents – said “No Thanks. Let us not go down that road.” But are the politicians listening?

Democracy won on November 8^th, even as it took a week to confirm that victory. It thankfully survived another battle, gained another day in pursuit of its unmatched gift to the human race. It remains fragile in the face of those who would do it harm. But (so far) it bends, yet remains proudly unbreakable. This is what a vote counts for. No extra, unneeded drama. Block out the distractions. Just mark an “X” (or fill in an empty bubble) on a sheet of paper. Along with millions other citizens. That is the true weapon of choice against those who would subvert our Democracy, distort our proud though imperfect Heritage, disregard our Rule of Law.

The Big Red Wave proved to be the trickle of a small pink stream. Label our recent past as an aberration in the course of our 600 year journey that began in the tiny hamlet of Jamestown. Past is past. Move forward. But who is listening? And to whom are they Listening? 

©   2022   Randy Bell                         https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com

 

Election 2022 Priorities

 Another election is once again upon us: the non-presidential midterm election of 2022. Historically, lacking the “star power” of a presidential contest, midterm elections do not draw the attention or participation of many voters. Hopefully, that will not be the case with this midterm. This election is probably the most consequential midterm of my lifetime, a needed referendum on the current state and future direction of the country.

In a typical election, men and women run for office by identifying various programs and priorities they promise to deliver – even though the many levers of government preclude any one representative from accomplishing much on his/her own. They are also likely to demonize their opponent as the devil incarnate, while they alone can save the country from total collapse. Buzz words (“socialism”) and sounds bites (“save social security”) will dominate the political rhetoric; true debate or meaningful, constructive dialog will be banished.

Election 2022 has a different call to citizens than picking a list of political actions and programs. While these are important, there is a more pressing need to (re-)affirm who our country is, what it stands for, and what it values. Because we, as a country, have lost our best sense of ourselves, and who we are about. There are two overriding issues we, the voters, need to address in this election: 1) reaffirming our Constitution and its foundation of the rule of Law that guides us; and 2) protecting, in fact enhancing, the accessibility to, and power of, our vote.

In 2022, we need to clarify whether we will return to a respect for Truth, Honesty, and the Law as fundamental to retain our Constitutional Republic. We accept that politicians will stretch the truth in order to benefit themselves. But over the last six years, outright lying, obfuscation, and endless delays in accountability have become the standard. “The Big Lie(s)” of unsubstantiated “facts” and opinion has made the most implausible seemingly plausible; political posturing has replaced Integrity within many of our American institutions. The bedrock principle that “no man or woman is above the Law” has been shuffled out the door in favor of rampant, unchecked illegality. The stability of Judicial Precedent has been shattered. “For the good of the individual” is replacing “For the good of the Country” as the basis for public service. The equal ability to partake in the country’s economic, religious, and personal opportunities has become questionable. The baffling, increasing violence that surrounds us daily is testament to our division and frustrations. The discord reflects our continual difficulty in trying to balance our Individual Rights versus our Community Responsibility.

As a result of our discord, Trust in our governmental institutions and public servants is at an all-time low; Trust in each other is too often non-existent. This lack of trust makes finding solutions to our many problems near-impossible. We argue incessantly; we do not listen to each other. We do not converse; we yell at each other. Hardened partisan speeches promote our separation and a one-sided view of our Constitutional principles. Yet the strong-minded men who wrote that Constitution realized that they were dependent upon the practical tool of Compromise. Their lesson to each of us is that without Compromise, there would not have been a Constitution. Without that Constitution, there would have been no United States of America.

The right to vote, through which the right to have a say in our government actions and the individuals selected to deliver the will of the people, is one of the primary gifts of American citizenship. For nearly 250 years that right has been expanding to include increasing groups within our electorate. Yet over the last four years we have seen one of the greatest assaults on voting rights since Reconstruction. At times, the right to vote was limited by law: e.g. restricting voting to property owners, or only to men. In other times, it was restricted by actions: e.g. paying poll taxes, requiring literacy tests, subjected to violence and intimidation. With the 1965 Voting Rights Act, most of the overt legal limitations were ended; thereafter, we chipped away at ending the action-based limitations. What we see today are limitations that are “tactically” based. These are the tricks misused to benefit one political party/candidate over another. We see polling stations set up in intentionally inconvenient locations with inconvenient hours; reduced time frames and/or sites for early voting; more technical requirements for obtaining an absentee ballot; restrictions on providing food or drink to people in long lines waiting to vote; dubious challenges to voter rolls. These and other tactics are specifically designed to discourage targeted groups from being able to make their voting intention count. They are all justified as “needed steps to prevent voter fraud” – would-be solutions to a problem we do not have in any meaningful or consequential quantity.

Preserving our democratic foundation, and protecting – and expanding – our right to vote. These are reasons that Election 2022 is so important. We should not be unduly fighting over specific policies and programs; these will continue to come and go as they always have. Rather, we should put our focus – and vote – on the character and integrity of our candidates. Who among them consistently tells us the hard truths; speaks and acts in the positive; is capable of playing well with others; is informed and knowledgeable about the issues facing us; is consistent in their opinions yet able to adapt to new information. Versus those who spout knee-jerk reactions; speaks in the negative; does not play well with others; accepts and/or promotes lies.

These are the overriding issues that we face. Over the last decade, the American Ship of State has taken quite a beating attempting to navigate its way through many stormy waters. The story is told that shortly after the last session of the Constitutional Convention concluded, Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Pennsylvania State House when he encountered one Elizabeth Powel.  Ms. Powel asked Dr. Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a republic or a monarchy?”  Franklin is said to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Can we keep it, as Dr. Franklin challenges us to do? We need to vote accordingly, as if our future as a country depends upon it. Because it does.

 

©   2022   Randy Bell             https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com

 

Supply And Demand Upended

As we drive around in our cars these days, one cannot avoid seeing the large gasoline station signs that tell us – usually in large, bold, brightly-colored numbers – what today’s gas price is per gallon. Inevitably, it is a bigger number than the day or so before. We drive past, likely shaking our heads in disbelief, discouragement, and a host of other thoughts and emotions at yet another thing taking control away from our daily life.

Yet you know what we do not see? Plastic shopping bags wrapped around the nozzles of the fuel hoses, accompanied by a cardboard sign that proclaims “No Gas.” We are used to this scene because on various occasions (e.g. hurricane destruction of refineries, Russian hackers blocking a major gasoline distribution line), demand for gas temporarily exceeds supply. The typical results are long lines at filling stations, different strategies for locating which stations have gas available, refilling the car at every opportunity, all while paying increases in price, And then, seemingly miraculously, everything goes back to “normal” within a couple of weeks. The refineries are back in production, the delivery trucks are making their rounds, and truck and automobile drivers are back to their old driving patterns. All is well.

This time it is inexplicably different. We have plenty of gas for everyone. Big Oil says these double-digit price increases are due to breaks in the gas supply because of the war in Ukraine and sanctions levied against buying Russian oil. But the amount of our imports from Ukraine and Russia is near-negligible, and we are drawing down significant quantities from our Strategic Oil Reserves to help offset those losses. And the backdrop to our story is that the U.S. has been a net exporter of oil the past two years, and over half of our imports come from Canada – not Russia.

Do I over-simplify our current situation? Admittedly, yes. But it seems that one must over-simplify to begin to understand the current rules of the road we are driving under. We all understand the principle of “supply and demand” in a free marketplace environment. When demand exceeds supply, something is deemed “more valuable” and the price is raised to take advantage of that scarcity. (I am not exactly sure why scarcity should drive price, but I accept that that has been accepted marketplace practice for near-eons.) Yet some societies have made exceptions to this principle by passing anti-gouging and/or price control laws effective in times of crisis, thereby not allowing profiteers to take undue advantage of the citizenry during short-term disasters. Problematically, price gouging creates a “bandwagon” effect: one store, one vendor, starts raising prices when there is panic in the streets, and so another sees an opening to increase his/her profits, and so on and so on. Pretty soon prices are exploding everywhere.

In the case of Big Oil, we have an extended supply chain of links engaged in bringing gasoline to the pump. The original driller; ongoing pumping at the wellhead; transport to the refinery; refining of the oil into its varying products; transport of gasoline to a regional distributor; distributor transport to the local filling station; sale of the gas to the ultimate consumer – the automobile drivers. That is a lot of links in the chain of transactions, starting from under the ground and ending in a car’s gas tank. EACH link in that chain has its own cost and profit demands to meet. Each link raises its prices on top of the prior link’s raise, thereby creating a compounding effect on prices. Add up all these increases, throw in price manipulations by commodities brokers and other financial hangers-on, layer the cake with the demands of national economies who are dependent on oil revenue (e.g. OPEC countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela), and you have a marketplace that has little to do with the actual oil on hand. The current record-breaking revenues for the oil giants, and all these other integrated inks, confirm that their hunger is being fed quite well.

Against this formidable, multi-pronged and ravenous beast, the individual car owner has little chance in affecting a resolution to this current inflation crisis. Ditto the farmer, the school system, the emergency responders, the truckers, the American family, etc. – all trying to survive these new economic demands affecting their personal and professional lives. Lives built upon a foundation of gasoline. But let us be clear. There is plenty of gasoline in barrels to meet our fuel needs. Whether we are paying $2.50 or $6.50, there is gasoline available to keep us moving. But if we are not careful, fulfilling the price gouging pump will be at the bigger cost of losing our potential to bring our economy back to a more normal, post-pandemic time. We do not have a supply problem. We do not have a demand problem. We have a price and profit problem. 

©  2022   Randy Bell              https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com

 

Blog On Hold

Thank you for visiting this Thoughts From The Mountain blog site.

Please note that, after 14 years of continuous writing, I am temporarily not posting new essays to this site. Given the national and international events of these past couple of years – cultural, political, medical, and spiritual – I find myself in need of a break from my writing commitment. For me, this is a time for reflection and renewal, a time to pause and better absorb the words and actions that have gone down since 2016, better understand their implication, and extract the underlying themes of what we have witnessed. Only after this needed reflective time do I feel I will be adequately prepared and qualified to resume the discussions to which this blog is dedicated.

My Thanks to all of you for your generous support and quality feedback over these years. Stay tuned – I will be in touch when appropriate!

Randy Bell

Generational Hate

“Unreasoning prejudices are bred out of the continual living in the past.”  

—Prentice Mulford, author and philosopher

 Around 30CE, a council of Jewish high priests found Jesus of Nazareth guilty of religious crimes and blasphemy, accusing him of claiming to be the “Son of God” and “King of the Jews”; thereby, a threat to their religious authority over the Jewish community. At the council’s request, Jesus was crucified by the occupying Romans as a potential disrupter and threat to the authority of the Roman Empire. Over the 2000 years since, some people continue to saddle all Jewish people and their descendants with permanent guilt for this act, subjecting them to unending punishments of prejudice, discrimination, and cruelty. Essentially, it was/is a fight over power.

Muhammad ibn Abdallah was the founder of Islam. He defined the teachings; defeated the powerful religious and secular leaders seeking to eradicate his followers; ultimately, brought religious peace to both Moslems and non-Moslems. Upon his death in 632CE, a contest arose over the selection of his successor. Moslem elders picked Abu Bakr to lead the movement by election; Ali ibn Abi Talib – Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin – claimed the position by family succession. Unable to resolve their differences, Moslems split into two camps: Sunni (Bakr) and Shia (Talib). 1400 years later, the division, and the arguments for supremacy, continue – oftentimes violently. Essentially, it was/is a fight over power.

In 1533, England’s King Henry VIII sought to divorce his first wife Catherine in order to marry Anne Boleyn, but Pope Clement VII refused to grant the annulment required by Catholic law. Henry married Anne anyway, triggering his excommunication by Clement. In retaliation, Henry named himself as head of the Church in England. He appropriated the property and wealth of the Catholic hierarchy into his new Protestant church (Anglican), while the population divided itself into Catholic minority and Anglican majority constituencies. 500 years later, division and certain prejudicial limitations toward Catholic continue (particularly as regards the monarchy), with tensions remaining very high in Northern Ireland. Essentially, it was/is a fight over power.

In 1619, the first African slaves were brought to the English colonies. As a slave, one’s conditions were totally controlled: inescapably tied to their owner; no say in their future; no privileges of ownership, wealth, income, or economic opportunity; no bond of family; no legal standing; considered “property” to be used, bought, and sold at the sole discretion of one’s owner. It was a control held in place through violence, both threatened and all too real, as well as by the legal systems. 150 years ago, America’s most deadly war supposedly ended slavery, yet it also created years of White Americans – overtly and/or covertly – continually blaming and punishing Black Americans for the war’s outcomes. 400 years after that first slave arrived, Americans are still grappling with how to permanently end racial discrimination and violence. Essentially, it was/is a fight over power.

This is a consistent pattern being repeated in our modern times. In 1947, British India was partitioned into two parts: “India” became an independent Hindu-majority nation, while a newly-created “Pakistan” was made home for Moslems.  Millions of people were moved – some forcibly – to enforce this religious demarcation. Political disputes, often marked by violence, have continued ever since. A similar story occurred in 1948 when the United Nations carved out an area in Palestine and designated it as “Israel,” a new Jewish-majority state. Israel, and the Palestinians/Moslems who surround it, have since been in perpetual animosity – often erupting in violence. After 75 years of continuous dispute, will we still be talking about these (and other such) fracturings 200 years from now? Essentially, it was/is a fight over power.

What these examples demonstrate is how the development of human cultures and relationships is often bound up within, and shaped by, long-term historical moments. Decisions are made; events follow; perspectives are shaped; human relationships are resultantly defined – often as “winners” versus “losers”; institutions are created to give substance to those definitions. Over time, that substance (including hate and prejudice) takes on a life energy of its own – “The Culture.” It defends itself, enlarges its scope, exercises its power, entrenches itself into the very fabric of the community. It becomes the community. This culture is reinforced and perpetuated by passing itself down generation thru generations. Over hundreds of years, a society functions as it does based upon old decisions and actions often long since forgotten. We observe the established rules simply because they are “the rules,” whose reasons are very likely irrelevant to current times.

Continuing to fight old battles long past cannot change our present. We merely change the setting or the players, perhaps temporarily drive the conflict under the radar, or hold the stage for never-ending violence and upheaval. It creates back and forth winners and losers, carried out by deliberate acts of prejudice and discrimination, economic supremacy, or at times, outright warfare. Insane? Yes. Yet even against such intransigent hurdles, Civilization surprisingly continues to make incremental progress toward a more just and connected world.

It is important to know the histories, both our own and others. There is much to learn about what worked, what did not, and how we got to where we are. But when we seek to avenge history long gone, we are living backwards, perpetuating other people’s fights, living lives of people long dead rather than our own. We do so at the cost of giving away life’s opportunities, no matter how noble we may enshrine “our cause.” We give away the opportunity to simply start fresh today with what is, what can be, what makes true sense, what is “right” in simple human terms, without the old baggage. We need to know our past, but not (re-)live our past. A conversation based upon a centuries-old foundation will most likely lead to maintaining the status quo, reinforced by hundreds/thousands of years of self-righteous finger-pointing and repetition. A conversation that instead begins with today has the potential to lead to lives generously and properly fulfilled. It begs the question: Whose life do we seek to live?

“While seeking revenge, dig two graves – one for yourself.”    —Douglas Horton, clergyman and ecumenicalist

 

©   2021   Randy Bell               https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com

 

Confronting Our Secrets

“Great nations don’t run away [from their past]. We come to terms with the mistakes we have made. And in remembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger.” —Joe Biden, 46^th President of United States

My hometown was a small border city in western Arkansas. At the western end of the main downtown avenue is a bridge over the Arkansas River that lands you in Oklahoma. From there, you could visit family friends on Oklahoma lakes; purchase fresh-grown produce from the many farms located about; or most importantly, make your way to a liquor store located at the base of the bridge where –fake ID in hand – an underage teenager could illegally purchase beer,

The biggest treat was making the few hours journey to nearby Tulsa. It was the oasis for sophistication and upscale living.  Great shopping for clothes and household items; fine restaurants; entertainment that was beyond our hometown local venues. When I left my hometown to spend my adult years in Boston/New England, the memories and impressions of Tulsa were good ones, even as they gradually faded over the years.

Fast forward approximately 40 years. I was enjoying reading a book consisting of stories of various lesser-known events from our past. One story was about Tulsa, but it was not about the Tulsa I had known in my youth. Rather, it was a new journey into a hidden, secret place.

This story goes back one hundred years, to May 31/June 1, 1921. It is an episode of racial violence unequaled in America’s continuing struggle over our aspiration that “all [men] are created equal.” It begins with yet another accusation that a Black man (19 years old) assaulted a White woman (17 years old) – a scenario virtually guaranteed to lead to racial violence. Following his arrest, hundreds of White Tulsans gathered at the jail, threatening to lynch the accused. In turn, approximately 75 Black Tulsans surrounded the jail to protect the accused. A shot(s) was fired, and (according to the sheriff), “all hell broke loose.” Ten Whites and two Blacks were dead. Word of the killings quickly spread throughout the city, unleashing an armed mob of White rioters. The accused Black man was no longer the priority. Instead, in their racial anger, the rioters were now intent on destroying the prosperous commercial and residential Black community of Greenwood (nicknamed “Black Wall Street”), one of the most prosperous, developed and stable Black communities in the country. And destroy it they did. Over the course of the night and next morning, the armed mob indiscriminately killed innocent Blacks that they encountered, and looted and burned the homes and stores of Greenwood. It was a violent massacre of destruction that ended only when the Oklahoma National Guard declared martial law the next morning.

But the damage was done. Given space limitations, this synopsis cannot do proper justice to this story of Tulsa. But the numbers help. It has been estimated that 75 to 300 Greenwood residents were dead; 800 were admitted to those hospitals that would take them in (given segregation restrictions); 6000 Blacks were interred in large holding facilities; 10,000 were now homeless; property damaged was over $30 million (2020 dollars). Next-day photos confirmed the scorched-earth destruction was complete: 35 square blocks of a thriving community had disappeared into smoldering ruins.

In the aftermath, the Governor called for forming a grand jury. The all-White grand jury attributed the riot to Black mobs. 85 people were indicted, but not a single person was convicted or held accountable for the deaths and violence. A group of city leaders was formed to rebuild Greenwood, but promised funding never materialized. The area was instead rezoned to impede rebuilding, and the Black community was forced further out to the edges of the city.

President Warren Harding said of the event, “Despite the demagogues, the idea of our oneness as Americans has risen superior to every appeal to mere class and group. And so, I wish it might be in this national problem of races ... God grant that, in the soberness, the fairness, and the justice of this country, we never see another spectacle like it.” Yet soon the wall of silence came down. Harding spoke often in promoting Black equality, but died just two years into his term. National newspaper coverage of the initial story faded away and disappeared. Local newspapers refused to talk about it for generations afterwards. It never made it into the history books. It disappeared from public, civic, and private conversation. Hidden behind the silent curtain, it never happened.

When I finished reading the narrative held in my hands, I was angry. Very angry. One, at the event itself, a reminder of the destruction and indiscriminate cruelty human beings are still capable of towards their neighbors. Two, angry at “the powers that be” that deliberately hid these episodes from recognition, discussion, and accountability. It was a betrayal from so many teachers I had trusted.  Third, angry that I had allowed myself be deceived about, and been blinded to, these realities for so many years. All of those times spent in Tulsa, unknowingly looking at a false façade. What else was I never told?

Walls of silence are intrinsic to many cultures – for the individual, among family, and within the community. Do not speak “ugly” words, words of bad things and bad times, unless you can remold it into a positive story (e.g. “The Lost Cause” of Southern secession). By not speaking of it, it never happened, and our life goes on undisturbed. Except that which is secret did happen, and the conditions that caused it simply lie in wait to happen again. Nothing has truly changed except on the surface in a pretend world.

These walls of silence we live behind are one of the major reasons our national dialogs makes limited progress. We each live, think and act from our individual frames of reference built upon our past experiences and knowledge; frames that led us to this moment of time, place and thinking. Silence creates great holes in that frame. But discussion can only become productive when each of us can speak from a common reference. How can one have a meaningful conversation with a White American without knowing their stories of religious and economic persecution (“Irish need not apply”) under the rule of myriad kings and the most very rich? Or with a Black American without knowing their stories of enslavement, lynchings, economic discrimination and legal injustice? Or with a Japanese American without knowing their stories of forced removal to resettlement camps during World War II? Or with a Mexican American without knowing their stories of invalidated property rights and land seizures across the southwest? Or the stories from each of these groups of voting and other discriminations since our founding? Too many of our individual stories live within, unshared with others

America is a great country. Both the idea of it, and the actualization of it, unique across the millennia. There are endless good stories of accomplishment, innovation, creativity and community across virtually every field of human endeavor. There are also many instances where we have come up short in our human interactions. Those shortcomings potentially can weigh us down and devolve into hatred and strife.  Alternately, they can challenge us to face them directly, change our direction and expectations, and do better in the future. We certainly have many past accomplishments of change for which pride is justified. But those changes only come from full disclosure of our past, airing our dirty laundry in order to clean it. Unfortunately, there are those today who claim that discussions of past troubles divide us, promote separation, and denigrate the country. Therefore laws are needed to prohibit such airings in our nation’s classrooms. Certainly a balance must be taught – the good stories along with the not-so-good.  But these initiatives to continue to distort and silence selected pieces of our past realities should be resisted.

There are so many stories waiting and needing to be told, stories needing to be heard. It is in the light of day that things grow, including societies. We cannot change what we cannot see. But what we can see is our future.

©   2021   Randy Bell             https://ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com

 

Images Of Covid-19

It was 2500 years ago that a Chinese spiritual philosopher famously observed that, “one picture is worth a thousand words.” The truth of that insight has been re-proven countless times over the ensuing centuries. Beginning with simple prehistoric cave drawings and basic stick figures, visual art has evolved through changing styles, new tools, and emerging technique. The images created by the painter, the sculptor, the woodworker, the photographer can provide us with factual information, evoke a range of personal emotions, and serve to document the life and times of moments of human experience.

Nowhere is that more true than with the work of the creative photojournalist meeting the right moment in time, particularly in instances of great national or historical significance. In the last hundred years, there was Dorthea Lange’s portrait of the “Migrant Mother” that told the story of the 1930s Great Depression and the Dust Bowl infused in the tired, beaten-down, exhausted face of Florence Owens Thompson surrounded by two of her seven children. During World War II, there were the Marines hoisting the American flag over Iwo Jima; the Soldiers fighting their way onto the beaches of Normandy in history’s greatest coastal landing, surrounded by the deafening sounds of war and smell of death; the emaciated bodies, walking skeletons, of the few survivors of the untold millions killed in the Nazi death ovens. But there were also the images of Rosie the Riveter working in the factories to support the war effort, and citizens holding paper and metal drives, and living within rationing controls, all illustrating the united cooperative spirit of the home front. Finally, Alfred Eisenstaedt’s image of “V-J Day in Times Square” showing the spontaneous kiss between an unknown sailor and a nurse conveying the joy over war’s end.

In subsequent years would come Viet Nam. Photographer Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl” showed young Phan Thi Kim Phuc running down the war-torn street, screaming in pain and terror, her clothes entirely burned away by the weapons of war. The image of the young college student, her arms extended as she crouched over one of the four bodies killed in 1970 at Kent State University while protesting the war, her tortured face begging the question “Why?” – her pain in that moment echoing the pain of a country being torn apart within. The true horror of that war was brought home into our living rooms.

Today, America – indeed the world – has been thrust into a different kind of threat: a previously unknown, fast moving, highly contagious, deadly respiratory virus. It is an extensive disruption of global society for which the world has shown it was not prepared. Despite our recent progress, the death toll has been horrendous, and many potential new victims are still to come. A variety of forms of suffering inflict millions of our citizens, from “long termers” recovering from the aftereffects of the illness, to  those made homeless and/or jobless, to those trying to hold families together against most difficult circumstances.

Twenty years from now, what will be the images that will define this historical moment and tell its stories? Will it be:

-A picture of doctors and nurses draped head-to-toe in protective gear, hands in gloves, face hidden behind masks and plastic shields, protecting themselves from the virus, but also attempting to cover the personal frustration and emotional drain of losing too many fights against this virus?

-Or a picture of citizens gathered at government buildings, some armed with military-grade weapons, protesting against the social, economic and health rules instituted by public health officials to combat the virus and protect the population?

-Or of close-up portraits of faces, masked versus uncovered – one a statement of public health and personal compliance, the other a political statement or a statement of indifference?

-Or of unmasked / un-distanced patrons crowded into bar gatherings, and large beach parties?

-Or of lines of people, “social distancing” 6’ apart, as they wait in long lines to cast their ballot in spite of new health rules and voting requirement obstacles?

-Or of coffins stacked in refrigerator trucks, because there was no more room at funeral homes?

-Or of older persons, alone, often isolated in nursing homes, sitting by a window in order to see and wave to families separated outside?

-Or of a near-empty Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve, sans celebrators?

-Or of a barber shop with a defiant “Open” sign out front, a restaurant with a “Closed” sign on the front door, or a small business with a “Mask Required” sign in the window?

-Or of college kids volunteering ad hoc help to farmers seeking to donate their food that would otherwise rot in the unattended fields?

-Or of long car lines at food banks, and at mass vaccination stations, as citizens respond to both needs and opportunities?

-Or of teachers sitting in front of computer screens, teaching their students online through Zoom connections, using technologies and teaching methods created “on the fly”?

-Or, of the simple image of a vaccination needle inserted into an arm?

-Or, that best sight of all, of a Covic-19 survivor being wheeled through hospital halls, heading home, accompanied by congratulatory applause from health care workers.

-Or …

We have made good progress in this health fight. Yet we could take a backward turn in a seeming split-second if we fail to see this thing through. No one yet knows what havoc this pandemic will ultimately have wreaked, what economic / social / political structures will have been permanently transformed into some unknown New. Will we have been consumed by our arguments, our differences, our personal self-concerns without regard for our impact on others? Or will we have found new strength in our ability to work together and share burdens, unity in our willingness to look out for and protect one another? What images will we put into our history books for future generations – our children and grandchildren – to look at as they ask us, “When called on, what did you do in 2020-2021 to help protect yourself, your community, and the Nation during that virus?” To what picture will we point? 

©   2021   Randy Bell             https//:ThoughtsFromTheMountain.blogspot.com