Beads for the week of 6/20 to 6/27/2020

I read twenty five or thirty articles a week. In the season of Covid social distancing I have begun a discipline of capturing their essence, creating a “bead” with a pull quote and then stringing these beads together.

David Brooks can’t help frightening us somewhat although he means to give us enough perspective to chart a path and keep moving when he tells us that five crises any one of which would be enough challenge have come upon us simultaneously. I will paraphrase them like this: 1) A plague - Corona virus, 2) An economic calamity, 3) A civic illness for which we have been unwilling to undergo treatment - failure to recognize, respect and revere the full humanity of all every citizen, 4) A major political party has turned itself into a personality cult and the cult leader is imploding 5) A surge in the influence of virtue performers who spectacularly pronounce and denounce but have no interest in the real work of governance. (1) I have found this a workable way to organize the week’s stories. I have added tales of pruning, could be hair or a tree so that life renews.

“Don’t share your air” Lucy Jones, long the voice of calm explanation in the wake of earthquakes in Southern California coined this crisp rhyming imperative in attempt to cut through confusion and obfuscation about wearing a mask. Of the Covid Jones says “It’s a catastrophic disaster, far bigger than any we’ve faced before, she said — bigger than the biggest earthquake, because it’s happening everywhere at once. And to use an earthquake analogy we should all understand by now thanks to her, “it’s still in the foreshock sequence.” Jones now leads an effort to bring the blessings of scientific knowledge to bear on societal problems. In that effort she has launched a podcast - “Getting Through It”. She sees a huge challenge because “We’ve become a society that has developed an immunity to science, that has said, well none of these guys can be believed.” (2)

If Covid is in “foreshock” phase the Trump camp has begun to feel the earth shift and their foundations crumble. Jennifer Senior joined those warning about more shocking efforts to hang to power regardless of damage to our democracy. “What we have left is an army of pliant flunkies and toadies at the agencies, combined with the always-enabling Mitch McConnell and an increasingly emboldened attorney general, William Barr.” (3) Citing Trump’s 20 minute diatribe regarding his skill at drinking water, Jonah Goldberg writes - “The most depressing thing about the Trump presidency hasn’t been Trump himself, but what it has exposed in others — not just in the politicians who will debase themselves to prove their loyalty to a man incapable of returning it, but also in voters who apparently need to be told that the naked emperor’s new clothes, or at least his water drinking skills, are “Masterful!” (4) Polls foretell many votes going for Joe Biden. Hence Attorney General Barr’s strategy - just don’t let people vote. “Any moves by the Department of Justice to impede vote-by-mail should be given their proper label: voter suppression. The Justice Department is gearing up for a battle on behalf of Trump. The conduct will be dressed up in law enforcement garb, but the attorney general is being nakedly partisan” (5)

In reaction to the naked partisanship and bigotry of Trump nation come the de-platform, de-pedestal search and destroy warriors. Over the last half century, we’ve turned politics from a practical way to solve common problems into a cultural arena to display resentments. Some person, usually mildly progressive, will say something politically “problematic” and his or her job will be terminated. In this way new boundaries are established for what has to be said and what cannot be said.” (6) “If it’s OK to knock Old Hickory off his pedestal now, is any reformist leader of the more recent past — F.D.R., for instance, or even Barack Obama — safe from the furies of the future? It’s hard to build progressive politics on a continually undermined foundation. A great debate about who should remain on which pedestals can be a healthy one. The right’s idea that we must preserve the worst figures to protect the best is idiotic. The left’s idea that we should bring down the best because we know who they were at their worst is no less so.” (7) And, “In a game of total victory, we all lose.” (8)

That said I did find good humor in an amputated limb of a statue. Juan de Onante, a Spanish governor visited a particularly bitter 16th century hell on the Acoma Indians in what is now New Mexico. In one fit of pique he cut off one foot on each of 24 men. That not withstanding there is (was?) a monument to Onante. “In December 1997, on the eve of the 400th anniversary of Oñate’s arrival in the region, someone sawed off the monument’s right foot and left a note saying, “Fair is fair.” (9)

The Supreme Court has consistently upheld to the right of a protestor to burn the United States flag. That notwithstanding, Trump and his minions are trying to whip up frenzy with fear of flag burning boogey men everywhere. A key case was that of Gregory Lee “Joey” Johnson who, burned a flag that someone had ripped from a flagpole adjacent to the Republican National Convention in Dallas Texas in 1984. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan wrote in the majority opinion that overturned Johnson’s conviction. Robin Abcarian writes, “As much as I support Joey Johnson’s right to burn the flag, I have to admit I was touched when I read what happened to the ashes of the flag he torched. According to Brennan, a witness collected the flag’s remains, took them home and buried them in his backyard. It was, you see, just as much his right to lay the flag to rest as it was Johnson’s to burn it in the first place.” I am with Abcarian on this. (10)

Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation alerts us that neither tearing down nor giving back will heal what ails our economy and society.

“The old playbook — giving back through philanthropy as a way of ameliorating the effects of inequality — cannot heal what ails our nation. It cannot address the root causes of this inequality — what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.” Instead, those of us with power and privilege must grapple with a more profound question: What are we willing to give up?” (11) This is a rugged question. I live in remarkable comfort and security and we have been able to be a great a launching pad for our children and through them our grandchildren. I don’t know what parts of this, especially that which has passed along to our grandchildren, I would give up for our general health. I am willing to live with the question because I do believe what is pruned brings forth new life.

I read two lovely stories of daughters wrestling with the mixed blessings that were their fathers. Mini Bull learned that her much older “sister” was in fact her mother and later discovered that her father was Father Hippolyte Zawalich, the beloved parish priest in her home town. “For the second time, I had discovered that the person I most loved like a parent was indeed my parent. My relief may sound odd, but imagine you’ve spent your life wondering. What a gift it would be to learn the truth.” (12) A gift indeed. When a young man, Gaspar Gomez had four children and then lost direction, self respect and fatherhood to substance abuse. In late midlife a woman’s love drew him back into dignity and engagement with his children. In April Covid took his life. His daughter Lucy wonders “How does your life straighten up and then you’re taken again?” (13)

South Korean Lee Dukhoon, 85, was the first woman barber in South Korea almost fifty years ago. She has kept her shop running through war, poverty, and for the last fifteen years just declining demand. Her shop is place of emotional renewal as well as restoration of appearance. She has been able to stay in business because of loyal customers. ”I just need my regulars,” Lee said. “It’s not like I’ll be taking anything with me when I go.” (14)

When Covid broke out all feared that Dharavi, a one square mile section of Mumbai, home to a million people in a crammed labyrinth of one-room shacks would be a death trap. As it happens the infection and death rates have been held well below that of the entire city. In no small part this has been due to the heroic efforts of a medical team led by Dr. Anil Pachanekar. Because his family has some risk factors he says “I was scared of passing it on to them, but I did what I had to do. This is a war against coronavirus, and we can’t win it if soldiers sit at home.” (15)

A powerful pruning brings new life story comes from Laura Hilenbrand, author of the bestsellers Seabiscuit: An American Legend and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. A magnificent grand maple tree dominated her backyard in Oregon. When it’s size made it a nuisance for neighbors the most she could do short of taking it down was a severe trimming that she actually couldn’t bear to watch. Then “in the space once crowded with leaves, there was something new. A little dogwood had long hunched beside the maple, almost unseen, slowly drowning under it. Some of its branches were wizened to sticks, with only a few pale leaves on the tips. Now those leaves were at last breathing the sunshine, and in the new clearing of sky, the landscape tumbled on forever.” (16) May there be a “clearing of the sky.”