Waterfall Illusions: Keeping Your Distance 8

There is a landscape challenge on Facebook.  I usually don't respond when the request is to have others copy and paste. 

But I'll do it on my blog.  A beautiful picture of a waterfall.

Isn't natural beauty grand?

Except, I don't think this is natural at all.  I think it comes from a mall in Nashville near the Grand Ole Opry.  An indoor mall with a fake waterfall.

There's a lot of people throwing up smoke and mirrors to distract us from the real crisis.  Some do it through lies and propaganda, to convince the pandemic is not as bad as it appears, that a cure is here if only the FDA would get out of the way, that we need to get back to our regular economy even if it costs a few lives, that there is no shortage of medical supplies - it's just misuse and maybe theft by medical care workers, and on and on.

It's tempting to look away from this.  It's tem[pting to fill our minds with pretty images.  Even if they're not real.

I understand the impulse.  I really do.  'Escapist entertainment' is my middle name.

I don't think we should lose focus, however, on what we really need to do.  We need to self-isolate as best we can.  We should be grateful for those who are risking their own health to provide the basic services we need.  That includes health-care workers, police, and firefighters.  It also includes grocery store retail workers, delivery people, and those who continue to open restaurants to drive-thru and curbside service.  It includes people like Alison, who are helping get needed school meals to those who would go malnourished without them.

If it wasn't for staying engaged, I would not have woken up to the fact that warehouse workers are exposing themselves to provide all the stuff we're ordering online.  Many work in conditions that are not protected and subject to overwork and crowding.  It has made me more self-conscious about what I order and why.  This may not be the time to order frivolous things, even if it boosts the economy.

If it wasn't for staying engaged, I would not know who to hold accountable for the mistakes that are being made.  That is first and foremost President Donald J Trump.  I do not say this as a partisan thing.  I say it as a stark reality - his incompetent and self-centered leadership is costing us lives and time.

That said, I understand that this blog does not always need to be down or gloomy.  It does not need to be always about facts and figures, as vital as they may be.  Laughter, adventure, escapism, storytelling - all these are needed too.  I will strive to achieve a balance.

I pray for all of us.  I have no faith in Trump, but I have faith in us as individuals and as a nation of caring people.  We will see our way through this.

The waterfall, real or engineered, will be there.  It will wash away the stain of these times and leave us renewed and cleansed.

Until then, stay home (or as isolated as you can), stay healthy, and stay informed.