State of the Union

Written 6-1-2020

In most places, there is a rhythm to the weather ⁠— sunny conditions, partial cloudiness (storm approaching), storm, partial cloudiness (storm receding), sunny conditions.

I think this basic rhythm every day, every week, every month, every year of our lives gives us something to lean on.  This rhythm gives us our main measuring tool to judge things.  Is it great?  Is it still great?  Is it getting worse?  Is it getting better again?

Perhaps not realizing it we often rely on this rhythm to consistently judge our society, our leaders, our education, our careers, our entertainers, our churches, our sport teams, our restaurants, our travel options, even our friends, and family.

In a sense, we are all fighting for less storms, and more and more sunny conditions when we make our choices.  We need either to get to those sunny conditions or we need to get back to those sunny conditions as soon as possible.

However, some of us are not incredibly lucky at all.  Because of archaic fears and prejudices, people of color have consistently had less opportunities for better health, better education, or better careers.  My friends of color seemingly must fight four times as hard to earn half the results that I enjoy.

What is the State of Our Union?

At times, our union feels like a lengthy movie where the storylines have occasionally gotten lost.  Are we heroes?  Are we antiheroes?

We see the passion all around us, hear the souring soundtrack, marvel at our technical accomplishments or mesmerizing art.  But our bridges are falling apart, there is a growing homeless population, our educational institutions are grossly underfunded, and, ultimately, we cannot afford our expensive approach for medical care.

Obviously, our union needs help so everyone has more time in the sunshine, and, I believe, there can be enough sunshine for everyone.  As the saying goes, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

Ever since we started our union, it has not completely worked for everyone. Yet more people arrive here each year to see if it can work for them.

That’s how I got here.  All my grandparents arrived here from Finland with little funding about the time that the Titanic was sinking in the Atlantic Ocean.  They arrived, found each other, then found a Finish community in upstate New York where they raised my parents, then my parents had their children and moved us all out West.  We kept moving ourselves enough too but enough about me!

We now find ourselves with a President and an administration that divvies out those best sunny conditions to just themselves and their cronies.  This group runs away from their responsibilities while vilifying the media who are only asking, “Why is it not getting better?”  “When will it be sunny again?”  “What are we doing to help everyone?”

This administration has been under water since it got here, and it is sinking faster now as the whole world watches their ineptitude.

Where do we go from here?

There is still a storm outside.  Our pandemic froze us all in place for a couple of months but while we were suspended our safety net was not assembled quick enough nor was it strong enough to protect us all.  We already lost 105,160 neighbors.  Those who have been feeling the biggest loses and the most pain are the most upset now.  I get it.  I wish everyone would get it too.  Plus, our pandemic has not really gone away. We will still be living with it for months, maybe years.

Bombastic announcements will not help the storm to leave faster.  In time, it will surely leave us.

I salute the peaceful protesters. I salute those officers who are kneeling with their neighbors.  I salute those people cleaning the damages and graffiti after the riots, and I salute all those donations to help the looted businesses, and I salute our constitution that will allow us to pick a better leader this November.

Weather Report — Are the clouds outside thickening for a bigger storm coming our way, or are they giving way for those sunnier times?  We get to choose.  We all make those choices every day.  Are we afraid of each other, or are we capable of loving everyone?  As they say in the movies, we need to choose wisely.

We are the state of our union.