It has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote here. I have actually tried to write something multiple times. There have been lots of things going on in the world and with my little family in the last week.
Big things in the world are the continued pandemic, and more recently continued amplification of the racism that infects our country. I am not an expert in those big things. I only know that both are horrible and when we had a different president in this country, the one my daughter was born under in 2009, I had much greater hope around the world she was being born into. Lately though, that hope has been deeply deeply shadowed by the bigotry and racism that still infects this country. Being white, I can’t express the challenges people of color experience. I do see it though. I know I have to be an ally and am trying to find ways to do that. I know though that there are others in this world who are much better voices to listen to. So I try to learn and teach my child of the inequality that is still in this country so that hopefully in her lifetime if not mine, we find a better way.
Small things in our world were the celebration of an 11th birthday including a parade of her friends and family in cars. This was such a success she hopes to have another in the future. I hope next year though we can actually have friends over.
I deleted my Facebook account. I was spending WAAAYYYYY too much time on it and it wasn’t doing anything to improve my mind. Rather it was being an echo chamber to my own beliefs and confusing when others disagreed. The problem with social media is there is very little nuance that you might find from just having a conversation with someone. Oh I do love the pictures of babies, graduations, and various other celebrations. Unfortunately there was so much other stuff. More marketing, and politics that didn’t give nuance. That word again I know. It just became tiresome.
I decided on my blog I could write in a longer form and maybe people would really share their thoughts in comments here. We shall see if it just becomes a smaller echo chamber.
I do have many other things to talk about, but honestly, you are probably experiencing them too. Things like worries about friends or families who are affected by the pandemic be it due to illness, lack of work, lessening of work, or just wondering how you can juggle kids and everything else especially with school out. Or maybe you are struggling with mental health, family issues, domestic abuse, marginalization due to race, ethnicity or religion. There are a lot of things out there right now that have been there for a long time. My only hope is in my small (very small) way, together we can find little answers that hopefully lead to bigger answers. Ghandi marched so that India would be free from British rule 17 years before India found it’s freedom. That was to make salt from the ocean which the British Government didn’t allow. People of peace and justice need to find our salt. Racism, lack of leadership, taxing the rich, these are all very complex issues. I want to find something simple like salt. Maybe just feeding the homeless. It is such a simple yet powerful act. Marching as has been done for George Floyd should also be a simple act, but opportunists on both sides of the law often time don’t make it so simple.
For now I have to think. I will be writing more. My job at the college I work for has been scaled back for the summer. I hope to use some of that time to write more and listen. I hope you will help by asking questions and possibly giving me some ideas of what you want to see.
In the meantime, please stay well, stay healthy. Remember empathy for your fellow humans as all have burdens, but not all are shared.