Playing for Time

It’s a gorgeous morning and Kim’s on the balcony greeting the sun while I work my way through another weekend wake-up. We’re both ready for *consistently warmish* in the weather forecast, and he has plans with Marcello today for PickleBall and go-cart racing. Everyone’s still staying masked, but the parameters are perceptibly widening for getting back into life as we knew it. At present, Douglas County is the most vaccinated county in Kansas against COVID – close to half the population – but people who think it’s over and act accordingly are a fly in the ointment, so half is only halfway there.

This article from WaPo perfectly articulates how a return to the world feels right now, and I hope it won’t be behind a paywall. Short story, we introverts are conflicted… (and a heads-up, there’s more blog text after the link, so hit the MORE button to continue reading, if necessary).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/introverts-are-dreading-a-return-to-the-noise-crowds-and-small-talk-of-normal-life/2021/04/09/386006b0-987b-11eb-b28d-bfa7bb5cb2a5_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F31ce4b3%2F6071c74d9d2fda1dfb4a1eec%2F59728e17ae7e8a1cf4ab33c8%2F60%2F72%2F6071c74d9d2fda1dfb4a1eec&fbclid=IwAR1eIuSq6X32M_HZyHbT3Q4U-BqkAOtlDCPoogMZvMkrXM6wpoWWroQNhTo

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It was another week when things happened but nothing much changed – wonder what today’s rant should cover. Since there’s always somebody reaching for the bottom rung, we have plentiful choices. Derek Chauvin has to rank as Worst Human of the Year but my nomination for Worst Human of the Week is Wayne LaPierre of NRA fame, who sat for a revealing interview with CBS News:

“After dozens were killed at two mass school shootings in recent years, National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre said the ensuing public outrage put him in so much danger that he had to take shelter — specifically, on a friend’s 108-foot yacht.

“I was basically under presidential threat without presidential security in terms of the number of threats I was getting,” LaPierre said in a deposition filed during the weekend. “And this was the one place that I hope could feel safe, where I remember getting there going, ‘Thank God I’m safe, nobody can get me here.’”

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good friend with a yacht?” – Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action

If Monsieur LaPierre and Betsy DeVos had put their heads together I’ll bet they could have rounded up enough yachts to shelter the populations of the two devastated schools, including every child who ended up dead… but alas, that wasn’t in the cards. So Wayne gets a thumb of the nose and assorted other gestures this morning as poster boy for HORRIBLENESS and I’ll go back to the good guys…

… the good humans who keep on keeping on in the face of ridiculous odds, through snow, rain, heat, gloom of night, slings and arrows, and psychic exhaustion. Thumbs up to those people, who all rank well above Mr. Mittens on my list of heroes. Thank you.

A sense of perspective is a healthy thing to hang onto…

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