Map of the United States. Either someone hacked the electric power
grid, or the country is appropriately dressed in the black of mourning.
Suicide? Or maybe it’s a homicide. But in either case, the country has moved from rescue to recovery. And the weapon is lying next to the body. It’s a double-barreled shotgun. Shot one is the pandemic and our reaction to it. Shot two is a group of vital organs that are designed to work together but are at war among themselves.
The Pandemic was relatively calm for awhile. We humans
profess to like calm, but we lie. Calm is like a vacuum. As soon as
it shows up, we fill it.
When there was no vaccine, science filled that vacuum with
one of the fastest chemical reactions since flame met paper for the first time.
It calmed things. But not for long. When there
was no choice about vaccinations because there were none, we went about our
business. Then when vaccines appeared, we broke the calm by stampeding
and demanding.
All the while, hospitals were being overrun with patients.
Many were drive-ins: Land in the emergency ward. Get checked in. Die. Ah!
Things are normal. The calmness vanished.
The vaccines began to work. People got calm. Thought about
things. Decided making them vaccinate was an attack on their freedom.
Government intervention. Experimenting on… “me,” whichever me said so.
Then things got worse. Much worse. People had already
figured the worst was over and started ditching their masks and cramming by
large numbers into small spaces. The result: The rise of the Delta
variant.
We’ll calm that, too, though naysayers go to motorcycle
rallies and political rallies and catch the virus.
What’s the most common phrase you hear when wandering among
hospital death beds? “I wish I had been vaccinated.”
But this isn’t the worst of it. Let’s not forget the second
shell from that double barreled shotgun.
The country is using Jiu jitsu -- using its own strength
against itself. Everyone has an issue with everyone else and everyone has
the law on his or her side. How is that possible? By making two centuries
of laws that go in every direction at the same time.
You can see it in action in the fight over the president’s
infrastructure bill. One group using laws to stall another’s.
The other side is using another set of laws to contradict
the first. And the US Supreme Court, supposedly the arbitrator and decider of
places law have in the self-created hierarchy, has become fully detached from
its missions and become just another political clubhouse where fear and favor
are the underpinnings of every decision.
Combine these two shotgun shells and you can’t expect the
shot country to be anything but dead or dying. Are the shells working in
tandem? It depends on which side you ask and in which moment.
So, whether suicide or homicide it’s going to require a
mighty big coffin.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WR 2021
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