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.
I've spent some evenings in the back yard laid out in my zero gravity chair watching the stars come out. There's still a lot of light pollution, but I can still see and identify at least a couple dozen stars whose individual stories are fascinating to read about. Part of this exercise is escapism, a way of divorcing myself from the pond of bad news in which we're all swimming. But from an emotional point of view, it's effective.
We had planned to take a trip to Germany and Austria this summer, part of which would have been spent in the Mozart Festival in Salzburg. We were going to travel with our dear friends from Denver, but we finally had to bow to the obvious and cancel the trip, having no expectation that it would be safe to travel. We're rescheduling for another summer, but to have to pop yet another balloon of joy...well, it kinda hurts a little.
Our immediate future still lies in limbo. Cheryl ends her contract at the end of September, and barring any significant change in her mother's cognitive health, we'll be staying here past that time. Losing her income will mean making a major change in our lifestyle, as long as we stay here. We're trying as much as possible to keep our hands off our retirement money until we absolutely need to, that being a finite resource, so there will be a time of significant belt-tightening coming up. And at some point, we will have to leave Hawai'i. It's just too expensive for us to live here and expect to have any joy in our lives.
Still, I'm thankful to be alive in the 21st century, a time when the lovely faces of our grandchildren (growing SOOOOO fast) are available via video chat. It's not the same as a hug, but still nice. This technology has expanded to church services which have been nice, but at the same time unsatisfying, especially when the 'Net is stressed with traffic and the transmission becomes broken and almost unwatchable. Church is not only worship, its fellowship; hugs and joyful faces, and the sound of laughter. Still, it's pretty amazing, if you stop and think about the tech we take for granted these days, and how far it has come, and more importantly, how far it can go in the near future. There are some new things to try, like using software to be you're own choir, or combo, or band. That can be fun to do, and to share.
Police agencies across the country are reporting increases in domestic incident calls, as people and their latent problems become magnified by the shrinkage of their four walls. Divorce filings are also up. Clearly, our relationships need to change to adapt to this new situation when people are shut in together without any respite. I hope that married couples understand the situation, and understand their responsibilities to each other. If ever there was a situation that cries out for kindness, patience, and understanding, this would be it. The restrictions now in place will be there for awhile longer, so we should all try a little kindness, 'cause all you need is love. Yes, that was Glen Campbell and the Beatles.
Some good news for me, after nine months of sleepless torture, I'm finally moving off midnights and returning to the evening shift. From the standpoint of my own...rhythms, an evening shift is my wheelhouse, where I function the best, not only at work but in all other parts of my life. It makes me more available to my mother-in-law, as I was always nervous when going to bed in the middle of the day and leaving her to her own devices until Cheryl came home. Not that she's likely to wander off, but there have been times when she has fallen, and at least once, injured herself. I don't know how I would have forgiven myself had that happened while I was asleep in the back bedroom.
Things are beginning to loosen up. The mayor of Honolulu has reopened the city and county parks for exercisers. You still can't sit on the beach, but we may be headed that direction. It was a hot weekend in Southern California and to the dismay of officials, people flocked to the (closed) beaches by the tens of thousands. I could see that happening here if Hawai'i beaches aren't reopened for sunbathers. Businesses still haven't opened, and schools remain shuttered, but you can tell that traffic is back on the uptick. People are anxious to be out and about for just about any reason, and I don't know how effectively government can safely put that cork back in the proverbial bottle. A government task force has been meeting here for about a week to decide what the wisest way is to begin to reopen the economy. Coffers are emptying, and it will be necessary for consumers to go out and consume to get those revenues rolling in.
So, here we are in the third or fourth month of the Great Pandemic of 2020. We are still nervous over all the important things we DON'T know about the Coronavirus, but are champing at the bit to get back to work, back to life. I understand the urgency of this, but I don't want to see the strictures lifted, only to give the virus a second and more virulent life. But we will continue to hang in there, and try to cope as best as we can. There are a host of TV ads out there, telling us that we're all together in this, even though we are separated. There's a lot of truth to that. I have no doubt that we will come up on the other side of this -- whenever that will be -- with a whole new appreciation for those things we so used to take for granted. Especially each other.
Be safe. Be smart. Be careful.
But above all, please be kind.
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