Tag Archives: pandemic

Decimate

Decimate: (v) to destroy a great number

The horror of eight million dead Jewish folk.

The prospect of millions being killed in a pandemic outbreak.

These are large events that leave us breathless with their destruction and evil.

But there are other ways to decimate.

Perhaps most common is that moment when most assuredly tenderness, kindness, empathy, reflection and mercy are required. But instead of supplying just the right portion of beauty, an extra thought, another consideration or a bit of nervousness forbids the outpouring.

I will not go so far as to say that losing small moments of grace and gentleness eventually cause horror and mayhem, but I do believe that this journey—this life—this expanse of time we’ve been granted—is meant to hone all of our senses to any possibility where sweetness can be added to the sour and deep-rooted, heartfelt appreciation might be inserted with a wish.

Let us not decimate that which brings life.

And life is abundant when joy is full.

Debug

Debug: (v) to detect and remove errors

Our protagonist quietly walks into a room, using hand gestures to signify to his close companion to be quiet.

After our hero searches the room for about forty-five seconds, he discovers several listening devices, which he removes so that  conversation can return, and they can discuss where these bugs might have come from and why it was important to debug the room.

It is a staple of American movie folklore.

For after all, no one wants to believe they’re being overheard and therefore manipulated into doing what someone else wishes.

Yesterday I asked myself a very valuable question.

How much further along would we be in overcoming this present pandemic of Covid-19 if the media was not covering it?

What if there wasn’t a camera in every corner, a microphone for every politician and a running death toll displayed to the side as a constant reminder of the horror which is afoot?

What if we had to solve this problem in silence?

In other words, let the experts talk among themselves, come up with ideas on how to battle the disease, and then, as in olden times, print flyers and distribute them from house to house, explaining what is expected of each citizen in pursuing and maintaining a solution.

If the arguments were removed, the politics were squashed, commentators silenced, and people with jobs just did their bit and passed along terse but well-worded demands to the general public—who would have to believe the reports because they were the only insights available…

Well, would it be better if America were debugged of the electronic albatross that listens in to see what frightens us, so more fear can be delivered?

Dangling

Dangling: (part) to hang

Life is about one thing and one thing only.

Try to end up in situations where you’re considering choices instead of offering reactions.

Pause and think about that.

I ask you to reflect on the statement because I’ve been doing it a lot myself lately.

In this season, there’s a gigantic pandemic hanging over our world, threatening the lives of the human race, placing all of us in suspended animation.

Dangling.

There is a tendency to want to react, respond or reclaim a former lifestyle instead of waiting until choices are real and options, legitimate.

Otherwise you just have reactions—unwarranted or knee-jerk.

We are all trying to avoid dangling.

I had to put several things to rest in my mind this year. Although I’ve been dutiful to my faith, I had to resort to a sweet calmness, allowing me to be indifferent to whether that spiritual pursuit has any legitimacy.

Why?

Because it leaves me dangling.

Also I had a parcel of sour relationships which I frequently tried to heal. Very little progress has ever been made. I opted to let them float away. I’m no longer evaluating myself on the outcome of the negotiations.

After many decades of battling obesity, I’m trying to focus on putting good things in my mouth to swallow—and doing a little bit less of it. I’m no longer dangling “slender” before my yearning eyes, criticizing myself for the present shape of things.

For what we want to do is make choices.

What we need to avoid is giving a reaction.

And what we wish to dispel is all the terror and uncertainty of dangling.