Random Thoughts That Sprang From Cabin Fever

Waikiki shut down tight.

Copyright © 2020

by Ralph F. Couey

Image and written material

Well, we're a month into the shut down, and from what I see on the news, the natives are getting restless.  There was an outbreak of demonstrations last week by people who have had their fill of cabin fever.  Of course, each gathering produced a spike in COVID-19 cases, to no one's surprise.  There have been many great things done through the force of the indomitable human will throughout history, but against this virus, will is not enough.  I'm reminded of a story of a band of Sioux who had been exposed to Smallpox.  The people were dying and the surviving warriors dressed in their battle gear and paint and rode around the camp daring the disease to come out and fight like a man.  People in general and Americans in particular have only so much patience with regards to what they consider their rights.  The demonstrations last week may prove to be only the tip of the iceberg of the national mood.  

I miss sports, more than I realized.  I have over the past month watched every minute of the Chief's Super Bowl season at least twice.  This week, I turned to YouTube and watched the Royal's 2015 championship post season games.  Twice already.  I realize that any meaningful baseball season is a wash at this point, but I'll be crushed if there's no NFL this fall.  In those halcyon days before the pandemic, sports was considered a diversion, at best.  Now I think many are finding out just how vital that excitement has been, and how desperately it will be missed.  ESPN has fallen to televising old national spelling bee contests, if that's any indication of how badly we need competition, even the vicarious variety.

I've watched a lot of Science Channel programming, especially one show called "How the Universe Works."  I enjoy watching and learning from eminent scientists in the field as they "dumb down" the extremely complex information to a simpler form that someone like myself can attempt to comprehend.  There has been several mentions of the star Betelgeuse, the upper left star in Orion, and what an interesting object it is.  Betelgeuse is in it's death throes, and is expected to explode into a supernova event, one that will be clearly visible to us on this planet, even in broad daylight.  (Sometime in the next thousand years or so.)  It would be the first time in human history that such an event would be witnessed this close.  If one can call 642 light years close.  Dr. Michelle Thaller, a frequent commentator in that program, talked of standing in her back yard, gaze turned upward, and saying, "Come on....explode!"  It's nice to know that people so intelligent and accomplished in their fields share with little ol' me the simple pleasure of looking into the night sky.

The Joy and Beauty of a Morning Walk

Dawn over Pearl Harbor

"Walking is the perfect way of moving

if you want to see into the life of things.

It is the one way of freedom.

if you go to a place on anything

but your own two feet, you are taken there too fast

and miss a thousand delicate joys 

that were waiting for you by the wayside."

--Elizibeth von Arnim

Copyright © 2020

by Ralph F. Couey

I love to walk. It is such a peaceful way to spend time, even when the reason for the exercise is cardiac health.  At one point in time I was running nearly every day, usually about 5 miles or so.  Then one day my doctor told me that if I didn't want to be in a wheelchair before age 70 that I'd better take up something less harmful to my joints.  I took up hiking, and over some five years, did about 200 miles of the Appalachian Trail.  It was more than exercise.  It was my time away from the world.  When we moved here to Hawai'i in August of 2019, much of my extra time became committed to caring for my 93-year-old mother-in-law who, while in excellent health physically, is suffering a steady inexorable degradation of her cognitive faculties.  Hiking requires an commitment of at least half a day, so I had to be satisfied with tours around the concrete jungle.  

One of my most common walks starts at home and heads up a 300-foot ascent to the top of Waimano Home Road which ends at secured gate to the State Health Department facility draped across the top of Waimano Ridge.  From there, the view is breath-taking, looking out across Pearl Harbor and Ford Island and the endless Pacific beyond.  No matter how many times I've been up there, it never ceases to amaze.  

This morning I left very early, just before sunrise.  I have to work tonight, as my "weekend" will end.  Hopefully, I will have tired myself out enough to sleep this afternoon.

It was very quiet this morning, the traffic still limited by the current set of stay home orders.  I've noticed, being out walking almost every day, that a lot of people have taken up this recreation, no doubt because exercise is one of the few exemptions allowed.  I can hear the steady tread of my shoes on the sidewalk, something only heard when things are very quiet.  Occasionally, I stray into the street as I encounter someone coming down the hill.  We smile and wave at each other, each knowing the real why we are out doing this so early.  Walking up that long hill, I see many more of the feral chickens that populate this part of O'ahu.  While the hens are generally drab, the roosters have brilliant plumage, those colors even more vibrant in the early morning light.  

Going Forward to a New Normal

HuffPost.com

Life is some days a bed of thorns, 

a puddle of mud, 

a pothole on a highway 

and it might deny you happiness 

but life is going to respond to your attitude 

and happiness is always a choice.

--RightMessages.com

Copyright © 2020

by Ralph F. Couey

Written content only

except quoted and cited portions.

There's a lot of noise these days about how the government is going to somehow get the economy and our lives back on track.  But as long as new cases of COVID-19 are appearing, and the deaths continue to mount, there will be a lot of resistance.  At the same time, everybody is wishing for "things to get back to normal" and a state of being where the word "pandemic" is not part of our daily vernacular.  

It's a laudable and desirable goal, but I think there's one thing that needs to be recognized and accepted.

We're not going back to normal.  We're going forward into a new normal.

I've thought a lot about this the past few days as the impacts of the stay-at-home orders, mandatory quarantines, and the cancellation of those social and sporting events that we now know we so desperately need.  Major League Baseball is bandying about a number of possibilities for this year, including holding all the games in the spring training complexes in and around Phoenix, Arizona in empty stadiums.  But you'd have to sequester the players for at least four months, away from family, friends, and any recreational diversions, and I just don't see the MLBPA signing off on that.  Other proposals include starting an abbreviated season late, and doing the playoffs and World Series in a neutral site like Florida or Arizona.  MLB would lose ticket revenue and would have to make do with only television revenue.  The NFL still intends to hold it's full season, starting in late August, but now the schedule has been expanded to 17 games and the playoffs enlarged by two additional wild card teams, which adds one more week to the tournament.  So, if they have to delay the start of the season, we might not see the Superbowl until late March or April.  The NCAA, NBA, and NHL are not speaking of this yet, since they have time before their respective seasons start.  All of this hinges on a return to normalcy.

But what if "normal" no longer exists?

Together, All Alone

WRCB TV Chattanooga, TN

Copyright © 2020

by Ralph F. Couey

Written content only

It was an odd-feeling weekend, to be sure.  The City and County of Honolulu announced a curfew for the Easter weekend, running from 11 pm to 5 am, which meant that everyone except essential personnel had to be off the streets.  I was fortunate to be off for three nights, taking the Good Friday state holiday on my Sunday.  I have to tell you though, I kinda wish I had gone to work anyway.  Kinda.

We stayed in the house, honoring the standing stay-at-home order issued previously.  I was able to get out to do my exercise, which was remarkably refreshing.  Easter Sunday, we viewed two services, one put on by our international church headquarters, and the other done by one of our local congregations.  There are some that claim that this will be the new paradigm for churches, going online instead of gathering in brick-and-mortar congregations.  It was a noble effort, but to be honest, it really fell short in the one critical area of religious life, fellowship.  I really haven't realized how important that is to our religious life.  We are a small congregation so by nature we are involved in each other's lives.  In a good way.  While it was good to see everyone online, my heart ached for human contact; the handshakes, the hugs, the ministry of presence that the members of a church community provide to each other.  We check in by phone often, but I miss the hugs, I miss the conversations, I miss the shared affection we have for each other.

Cheryl and I love each other, and really enjoy each other's company. But we miss the part of us that exists with our friends, and the sense of adventure of going somewhere new.  I, for one, will never again underestimate the importance of that.  We have each other, and we need each other.  But we also need everyone else, because for us, that's where life exists in its most joyful forms.  

Life in This New World

Cleveland.com

Copyright © 2020

by Ralph F. Couey

Written content only

Some hopeful news today.  Rates of new infections of the novel corona virus in China, Italy, and Germany appear to have peaked and are decreasing.  People in Wuhan, where this all started, have begun to return to work.  New York Governor Cuomo in his daily presser, using some of the most careful, cautious, and circumspect language ever to come from a politician, seemed to suggest that the curve in New York state was about to flatten and perhaps to decrease.  Other areas in the world, including most of the United States are still seeing increases.  But still, it seems that we might be about to turn the corner on this pandemic.  To quote Winston Churchill, "Now, this is not the end.  It is not even the beginning of the end.  But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."   Make no mistake, there are still rough days ahead.  But that distant glimmer of light at the far end of this tunnel is beginning to be discernible.

We celebrated Palm Sunday today, marking the day when Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem on a colt, heading towards His penultimate confrontation with the Sanhedrin and Rome.  Of course, we did it via teleconference.  I have to tell you, it felt a little weird at first.  But when folks started checking in, the conversations started, and the sheer joy of people finding each other again made me ache for their physical presence.  Yes, I miss the hugs.

This experience is one of those paradigm-changing events in history.  Pearl Harbor, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11 were all moments that forever changed us and our way of life.  A few days ago, I pondered whether we could recover emotionally from this, and that question still floats in my mind.  But I spent some time today considering how our lives will be permanently changed by our passage through this particular crucible.