2020 has become The End Of The World As We Know It. Or, as preppers say TEOTWAWKI. I have known this time would come, and have had bursts of preparation and panic over the last decade or so. I have contemplated a long litany of potential world ending events, including plague and governmental meltdown. But not both. And not with a madman at the helm creating chaos and pandemonium with the flick of a Tweet.
For as dramatic and apocalyptic as it seems in books and movies, instead it has been slow, insidious, and soul crushing. Starting with isolation from my beloved grandchildren. Two solid months of not seeing them, and missing them every day. Every. Day. But that has been rectified and I am back to seeing them weekly, much to my relief. Honestly, the one constant that had been in all f my End Of The World mental scenarios was that I would find a way to get to my grandchildren to keep them safe. I have always told them (usually when encouraging them to do something scary), "Don't worry, I will keep you safe." And suddenly, they were beyond my reach, at a time when I knew they would know just enough to be frightened. And I was not there. It felt like an epic failure on my part, regardless of the truth of the matter.
Now that the plague is on the uptick, spreading with ever increasing speed, we all seem to have relaxed our guard. The first few months we were on high alert, and now we are just tired. It sure didn't take long. Hell, some people refuse to think it is anything other than a Leftwing media hoax. The USA has become the Leper Colony of the Globe, and still people rail against the small precautions experts say will slow the spread and bring things under control. Selfish assholes. What this has done is really shine a light on just how self-centered so many of my fellow citizens are. Not that I am surprised, At all. In actuality, I have known this. For a long time I have known that there are two basic types of people: Those who despoil, and those who clean up after them. Those who toss garbage along the trail or out the car window, and those of us who follow along and pick it up. Those who put dirty diapers and rotten food in the recycle bin, and those of us who diligently separate all our trash. Now there are those who claim that wearing a small scrap of fabric over their face to slow the spread of a virus is an affront to their freedoms and a vile tyranny, and those of us who willingly and happily wear a mask to protect the vulnerable strangers we come into contact with. Other countries are managing this with little problem. The US is managing it with armed protesters surrounding state capitol buildings and threatening to violently overthrow their leaders, who are just trying to save lives. And these gun toting, Confederate flag waving groups are being met with stoicism from the police, and encouragement from the White House.
This brings up Stage Two of the apocalypse: Black Lives Matter protests. Here we have a group of essentially peaceful protesters who are rising up to confront endemic police brutality and are being called "violent anarchists" and being met with tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and batons. Which, if you think about it, does go on to prove their point. To escalate the issues, Federal stormtroopers have descended on Portland and upped the ante. They are not wanted, were not asked for, and have been sent in as a political ploy to prove that the country is under attack from anarchists and Antifa. Of course, now there is violence, but the root of it is coming from Feds coming out in combat fatigues, wielding batons, tear gas, and pepper spray, and no compunction of using them to their fullest capabilities against We The People who have gathered to use their First Amendment Right: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press; or the Right of the People peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of Grievances. "Oh, well what is the difference between this and the people protesting the COVID-19 restrictions?" You may well ask. Let me say this, There is a huge difference between an armed protest demanding the right to spread an infectious disease because it is an inconvenience, and an unarmed protest demanding that police stop killing black men and boys because they may or may not be doing something the police and white people think they should not be doing. HUGE DIFFERENCE.
These recent events have led me to a lot of mental and spiritual vivisection. I have tried to flay myself open to inspection, and to root out inner biases. Yes, we all have them. But we are grown-ass adults who can take responsibility for our actions and not blame it on our upbringing and/or culture. I think that the POC population have been remarkably calm, patient and tolerant. Far more so than the white priviliged who scream at the most minor inconvenience, demand to see the manager, or claim that their civil rights are being abused in one manner or another. You need to stop and look at the history of our country to get a realistic and gut-wrenching view of civil rights suppression. How many peaceful protests and marches over very valid injustices have been met with tear gas, water cannons, attack dogs, rubber bullets, real bullets, batons, tasers, arrests and death? Just within the last few years the list is nigh on endless. I don't know how they have managed to remain so civil and focused. I would have lost my shit and started flinging Molotov cocktails years ago.
Stage Three of the apocalypse actually began 4 years ago, with the presidential election. That was when the rocks were lifted and the hate groups that had hidden in the dark were allowed out into the light with tacit approval from our own administration. "They are some very nice people..." Those of us who thought he would be eliminated from the candidates based solely on his treatment of women. His sexual predator nature that he openly bragged about. The endless accounts of him groping, kissing, and grabbing women against their wishes. The charges of rape and sexual assault. But no, these were swept under the rug and have somehow become normalized. Then he mocked a disabled man, on camera, at a rally. But again, swept under the rug. I could go on and on, listing infractions, lies, and behaviors that should have disqualified him or gotten him sanctioned, reprimanded, and held in check by his own party. But no. Crass behavior and lies are the new normal. This brings me back to a previous point: There are those who despoil, and those who clean up after them. Hopefully, we will soon have a chance to clean up. And when we do, it won't be so toxic that there is no coming back from it. I have to hope.
And so ends the world, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
