Why the Pandemic Seems So Insurmountable
You know what? I have to say on a personal level, we've kind of got this.
We're spending good time as a family together. We're reading a lot. We're finding a way to have (distanced) time with friends that is in no way as frequent as before, but that means a lot more. We're cooking good food. We're doing some house projects. We're visiting sunflower fields. We have a collection of masks. We're getting good work done. We're escaping to the cabin. In a lot of ways it's hard — and things that would have been hard before, like the enormous leak that took out our kitchen ceiling, are that much harder. But in general, we're getting it done.
Which stands in stark contrast to our leadership, at all levels.
Though Beatrix's school seems to be handling the myriad issues well, their communication has been terrible.
I've not heard a word on the situation from my city council member, Dai Thao. I hear a few talking points from Mayor Carter, but then he disappears again. I won't even discuss Mayor Frey. Governor Walz has been handling things in a thoroughly workmanlike manner. I don't hate it, but I dream of what the alternative could be. Our state legislature has generally been a complete disaster.
I won't even touch on national politics.
Though I know the uprisings and covid are not inter-related, they point out the same weaknesses. As I write this, we're under another curfew, and yet more helicopters buzz overhead. I hate it.
It feels like the futility or carrying a stainless steel straw in my purse instead of using plastic ones (back in the Before Times when we could go to restaurants), while at the same time millions of gallons of petroleum products leak into the ground from insecure pipelines. It's tilting at windmills.
It doesn't really seem to matter how much I do if some of the bigger things don't change.
We're spending good time as a family together. We're reading a lot. We're finding a way to have (distanced) time with friends that is in no way as frequent as before, but that means a lot more. We're cooking good food. We're doing some house projects. We're visiting sunflower fields. We have a collection of masks. We're getting good work done. We're escaping to the cabin. In a lot of ways it's hard — and things that would have been hard before, like the enormous leak that took out our kitchen ceiling, are that much harder. But in general, we're getting it done.
Which stands in stark contrast to our leadership, at all levels.
Though Beatrix's school seems to be handling the myriad issues well, their communication has been terrible.
I've not heard a word on the situation from my city council member, Dai Thao. I hear a few talking points from Mayor Carter, but then he disappears again. I won't even discuss Mayor Frey. Governor Walz has been handling things in a thoroughly workmanlike manner. I don't hate it, but I dream of what the alternative could be. Our state legislature has generally been a complete disaster.
I won't even touch on national politics.
Though I know the uprisings and covid are not inter-related, they point out the same weaknesses. As I write this, we're under another curfew, and yet more helicopters buzz overhead. I hate it.
It feels like the futility or carrying a stainless steel straw in my purse instead of using plastic ones (back in the Before Times when we could go to restaurants), while at the same time millions of gallons of petroleum products leak into the ground from insecure pipelines. It's tilting at windmills.
It doesn't really seem to matter how much I do if some of the bigger things don't change.
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