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| This is the cover of the New York Times for May 24 |
Calm down, folks. It's a start.
Phase one doesn't mean a whole lot will change necessarily, but it is one small step.
The giant leap (that is, for people complaining about their hair) is in phase two.
Restaurants are in phase three and phase four is arts/entertainment/recreation (and that means sports).
I'm grateful to see us making progress but it doesn't mean social distancing is over by any stretch.
Look, I don't love wearing the masks and I know there are mixed messages about all of this stuff, but I just wear it and that's that. I wrote yesterday that the arrows in grocery stores are stupid and I stand by it. Why? Because many people are just not getting it and it creates more trouble.
Nobody is actively trying to ignore the arrows. They're just ... well ... clueless. That's the shortest answer.
There are social justice warriors who shame people about a lot of this stuff. I certainly don't need someone saying anything to my mother. Let's put it that way.
I sometimes go to a store that doesn't use arrows and things flow just fine.
Crazy idea! Common sense works sometimes.
But I honestly don't see the big deal about sucking it up and wearing the mask and I follow the arrows. The mask is on in the grocery store. I do it (most of the time) for picking up and dropping my mom off at dialysis. I do it to go to the deli for her egg sandwich.
I do it in any enclosed space or wherever social distancing is not possible. That's what the governor has said to do.
I realize how silly it all is because the grocery store and deli have plenty of hazards but I still follow that rule. I go to a house (worship, home, whatever) and they have rules. I abide or I leave. Pretty easy. If Stop and Shop says "wear a mask," I wear it.
I don't see it as this great loss of liberty ("Murica!") and if that makes me a "sheeple" then that's for me to deal with.
Judge away.
This wasn't clear (obviously) in a Facebook post I put up yesterday about the grocery store saga.
I'm as ready to move forward as anyone, but for the right reasons and if it's done the right way. That's the best way I can say it.
This just in: I communicate for a living and I pretty much suck at it.
But have a look at that New York Times front page. It says a lot. It's impactful. Nearly 100,000 dead. This has never been a joke or a hoax or a conspiracy. Are the numbers a little dodgy? Maybe. But this stuff is real.
This is nothing to celebrate when it's over, in my opinion. I'll be happy to simply move on.
It hit my family and thankfully it wasn't fatal. That's enough for me.
The sooner we do the right thing, the sooner it's going to move forward.
And the arrows will get scraped off the floor.
*****
Day 22: A song that moves you forward
After having no inspiration, this came down to between, ultimately, two songs.
I thought of "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House. It's a song about not giving up hope ("But you'll never see the end of the road while you're traveling with me.")
Crowded House also did a really nice "pandemic at-home" version back in April.
Then I saw the suggestion of "Vienna" by Billy Joel, and my work here was done.
The song came out of a conversation with Joel's father ("Slow down, you crazy child") as the younger Joel was hard-charging through his music career. The story goes that Howard Joel was living in Vienna and implored his son to make sure to stay on the path but also enjoy it.
We could all use that advice.
Life, if you didn't know, is too short. I mourn that on a near-daily basis.
But, anyway.
I'll also always have affection for this song (besides it being a great song -- arguably top 3-5 in the Joel catalog) because of listening to Paul Silverfarb play it in a Boston piano store. If I'd had any guts, I would have tried to sing.
But, I don't.
Vienna may wait, I suppose, but Boston didn't.
Again, anyway.
"When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?"
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