As I write this, we're into the 70th day of our
And so here we continue to stay, living out of our suitcases, as almost all of our worldly possessions are still back in Addis Ababa አዲስ አበባ. Other than telework and the daily walks, there isn't much to do. The book the girls gave me for my birthday today seems apropos for our present situation, though the prints included within show people in outdoor situations, not practicing social distancing as they work to further the goals of the revolution:
Coronavirus aside, at least things are going well in the country as a wh...oh, who am I kidding? To remind me of all that is wrong in America these days, a relative of mine shared the following on Facebook yesterday, which is how it ended up on my feed. The relation who thought I needed to see this is married to the man who called my wife a "mail order bride", whom I "bought" using my late father's money so she could give birth to my child (see here for the ugliness). If you're wondering why the U.S. is the way it is today, keep in mind that the fear, ignorance and ugly racism you're about to read is how literally millions of people in this country (including some of my relatives) view the world:
Normally I don’t repost things. Normally I don’t post political. But I saw this and thought it hit home with what is going on in the world today.
This may open up a ton of outraged comments by some. Many who will argue how "wrong" this post is. My suggestion, save your time and effort! You're not changing the reality of what we are living by trying to somehow justify this insanity. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist because we are becoming the Twilight Zone.
We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind!
• If a dude pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.
• Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.
• Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.
• It was cool for Joe Biden to "blackmail" the President of Ukraine, but it’s an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquires about it.
• Twenty is too young to drink a beer, but eighteen is old enough to vote.
• People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.
• Inflammatory rhetoric is outrageous, but harassing people in restaurants is virtuous.
• People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees.
• Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.
• Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcome.
• $5 billion for border security is too expensive, but $1.5 trillion for “free” health care is not.
• If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.
• People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President.
• We see other countries going Socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us.
• Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, and other people are not held responsible for what they are doing right now.
• Criminals are catch-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it's a violation of THEIR rights.
• And pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us "racists"?!
Nothing makes sense anymore, no values, no morals, no civility and people are dying of a Chinese virus.
We are living in an upside down world for sure.
Virtually every single point expressed is so clearly wrong, and yet so readily accepted and believed by so many Americans. Just check out that xenophobia - immigrants voting illegally! Immigrants with TB and polio (Polio?!)! Immigrants getting free college educations! And we're all dying from a "Chinese virus"!
It's because of sentiments like these above that we can't have a nice country. And it's because so many espouse sentiments like these above that I fear for the future of the United States. Despite all the progress made over the past several decades, there are still significant numbers of people who favor "law and order" over ending police brutality, who despair over the "browning" of America (notice how the original poster frowned over the difficulties "Irish doctors and German engineers" were supposedly having in getting into the U.S.), who think universal health care is "Socialism" that will result in the collapse of society (like it has in all the other developed nations that ensure their citizens have access to working health care systems) and so on and so on. And it's due in no small part to sentiments like these above that I'm anxious to return to work in Ethiopia.
Oh well, one should always look on the bright side. The outpouring of demonstrators on the streets is a hopeful sign that real changes are possibly on their way, even if it means people like the poster (and the relative who shared it) will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the real world. But with age comes cynicism (or more of it, in my case), so as the old saying goes, I'll believe it when I see it.
On at least one positive note, for the first time since we were in the Seychelles back in mid-March, we actually went out for a meal this evening, celebrating my 57th at Urban Tandoor. Hopefully we can do this more often from now on, provided we don't catch that COVID:
The rainstorm pictured at the top of this post actually missed our location, but did provide an entertaining lightning show as it went by:
I'm now up to 75 minutes one-way on my weekly trek along the Curtis and Mount Vernon Trails, which took me to this point alongside the Potomac with views of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Watergate complex:
And when life when gets you down, there are always sunsets to appreciate:
In reference to an earlier blog post:
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