I took The Wee Dog, Princess Lily, for a stroll tonight a little after dark-thirty. Being the middle of September, the evenings are beginning to get a little nippy, so I grabbed a light jacket that I had not had on in a while. As Lily and I were strolling down the sidewalk I stuck both my hands in the pockets of the jacket and discovered some items there in. In the right pocket was the small plastic bag familiar to all urban dog owners, colloquially referred to as poop bags. In the left pocket I found a paper mask that has become so fashionable and controversial during this pandemic. As is my wont, I begin to reflect on these items as I walked.
The poop bag was a reminder to me to never say never, as I had more than once, emphatically stated that I would never pick up dog feces, using it as one of my arguments as why we did not need a dog. However, if you have a dog in an urban / suburban environment it is only good manners to clean up your dog’s doings. When I was still working I would leave the neighborhood in the morning and there would be several souls walking their dogs, a few of whom had those long handle pooper-scoopers. I reflected at the time that if aliens were to observe humans with their canines, they would conclude the dogs were the dominate species as the humans were walking behind them picking up their sh**.
The mask reminded me of the brief flash of anger I had the other day as I left the truck to enter Wal-Mart, putting on a similar mask. I was not angry that I had to put on the mask, but I was angry that I still had to put a mask on after all this time. Missouri in general and St. Louis County in particular has been a hot spot for COVID. Most folks in St. Louis are masking and following the guidelines, but cross the rivers to the counties surrounding us and you would think there had never been a pandemic. My anger was directed at anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, Republican deniers/ obstructionists, and gawd help us the unbelievable number of wild conspiracy theory believers. From my point of view it is these folks that are aiding and abetting this pandemic. I firmly believe that without this craziness we would be out of the woods by now. I took a breath, and began to recite one of my personal mantras – it is what it is.
The things you find in pockets.
And so it goes.
With that post, I begin to understand why you use the term ‘Curmudgeon’ in your website name. . .
You are just NOW understanding!!!!
Hmmm, I thought it pretty Buddhist/Taoist/Stoic with the concluding “It is what it is”. Breathe in and out and observe the world kinda stuff. Remembering, of course, that we are part of not separate from the world. Love ya.
You aren’t the only one pissed at those people not doing their part to help end this. Could you imagine what would have happened with polio if people had done that?
Rev. I do agree with you. Some of the people of this human race are going to hell (where ever that is) in a large hand basket. All we have to do is help save each other. We could fight harder to end this deadly KILLER, the Pandemic