Confounding & Concerning

I take up pen today to reflect on the frustration of the current moment – both personal and global. I’m caught in a cavalcade of conflicting feelings over the current situation as it confronts all of us. I don’t think I’m too far from the average on this and the global implications.

COVID-19 and Keeping School Open

We have a plan and it seems to be working. But, that doesn’t help me sleep better each night because the fear is still relevant and real. We are human, with all the frailties that this implies. We try to feign being indestructible, but we all know full well that the current unforeseen enemy is akin to the tales of David and the sling. We’ve been hit in the forehead with the protein spikes and the giant is falling.

So, while our work is being applauded from around the world, the trepidation of calamity is still in my mind. I’m hopeful of staying the course but thoughtful about what the alternative needs to be. We will prevail, but the question now becomes more political and less medical. We have to stir faith in our protocols in order to push back on political and policy expediency. As the CDC, FDA, and WHO have learned, that can be the greater challenge.

Home and Family and Health

We live in safety, but having the family in regions around the world, we have unique insight into the global implications. We don’t tick the box on third world, but we Poland, Italy and the US in our framework and each gives perspective on the other.

Erin seems settled in Florence and back to normal life. While much of the eating seems to be ordering delivery, there are trips to restaurants back in her life and classes back in face-to-face mode. Doesn’t help us be less fearful for her, but little we can do from a distance.

Jaisen seemed unfazed by the virus in Washington State, completing his BA degree in the at the tail end of the first shutdown and starting his MA degree during the summer (smartest decision he could ever have made). But, still worried about the second wave although Washington seems better than most.

Grandma holding down the family hub in University Place and seems to be reinforcing that we made the right choice to keep her in her home with caregivers under the circumstances in nursing homes and assisted care facilities. She’s so far avoided any significant impact.

Politics and Perplexity

The family have all voted. That’s good. This is Erin’s first election and she’s pumped after participating in some racial protests here in Warsaw in support of equity and tolerance. She’s on the edge of becoming an activist and I’m hopeful that we have inspired these values from our global adventures as a family. We are all anti-Trump which is the rough equivalent of anti-stupidity. I hope the articles about the potential that Trump might still win are just attempts at getting people to turn out and vote. If he pulls off victory in 20 some odd days, I’m not sure that the hope which has been inspired in my by Biden and Harris will survive. Dreadfully concerned still, despite the favorable polls.

Sanity

How to stay sane in all of this. I’m not sure. But, faith is being tested and, yet, I remain hopeful that possibility will emerge from despair.

Stay tuned. We are certainly watching…

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