Out There in Everyday Ramblings

Lady Justice fronting a disused courthouse downtown. I follow a Substack that had a photo last week of a man painting over a cheerful mural that was full of words like Integrity, Equality, Diversity, and yes Justice with a dull gray paint at the training center for the FBI in Virginia.

That about says it all, as far as I am concerned.

Someone else I heard yesterday said that we need to hammer home to everyone we come in contact with the extent of the corruption that is taking place. The breathtaking scope of it, which this stomach-churning news about Gaza epitomizes.

This morning I was looking at Carlo rolling around on his back on his heated cat bed after treats and his breakfast thinking how glad I am he doesn’t know about any of this.

Like so many of us, I am struggling. Pretty much everyone I know has pulled back from the news and I totally understand that. But even if one has the energy, what is going on is getting out there.

Take for instance a trip to the grocery I took last Saturday morning on the bus. I got on and went to the back as the bus was fairly crowded. I sat down. The bus takes off and almost immediately a woman up front opposite the driver starts to scream. It is alarming. At first it was incoherent and then a stream of invectives. It was like she was screaming insults that had been aimed at her.

No one reacted. So, she screamed louder. At some point she got up and stamped around in a little dance like someone affected by the plague. And then she screamed as loud as she could. She even bumped into the old man across from her who deflected her with his raised hands. She was wearing a clear plastic rain tarp.

No one reacted. We stopped once to pick up a woman who was also going shopping and the screamer stopped when we stopped and then started as we pulled away. She screamed the whole way to the store. She stopped when we did but stayed on the bus.

It has been my experience that mental health crises are often brought on by disturbing news in the world. Folks pick up the fear but don’t have the skills to cope.

Based on what is leaking through my news filter, I also don’t have the skills to cope.

One is just plain at a loss as to how to respond. I suppose eventually we will figure it out, but I shudder to think of the damage that is being done in the meantime. Not that my shuddering is either here nor there.

This is a hard time. I miss having close companionship to share it with but I am doing the best I can with what is available and counting the days until it warms up and I can potter around pretending I have a clue what I am doing in the garden.

Some of my tomato starts have a third and fourth leaf now as they sit on the windowsill facing the wet melting on contact snow that appears to be happening out there.