Warrior's Strength

This whole year has had everyone's temper flaring worse than Mount Doom looking for the One Ring. "Karen compilation" videos left and right of people spitting in each others' faces, racial rants, calling out "Covid hoax" like Revere calling out "The Regulars are coming!"

Everyone's sick of this year. Everyone's also sick of trying to avoid stepping on each other's toes unless they feel like being rebels.

I've lost count how many times I've watched The Lord of the Rings, but while watching it (again.........), and watching the YouTube channel Cinema Therapy, I now realize there's many current and relevant themes and lessons this 20 year old film franchise can teach us going forward. Things one wouldn't normally consider since the movies don't deal with a viral pandemic. We normally look to something that deals with exact or near-exact circumstances to our own to figure out what we can do.

For example, when the movie Contagion came out, it didn't do well in the box office. At least, from what I heard. When I heard the title, I thought it would be a zombie flick. This year, upon the announcement that the globe was under quarantine, a global pandemic, I heard the movie was sought after, immediately becoming the #1 movie streamed across the board. I haven't watched it yet, haven't had a chance, but from what I've heard, it realistically depicts society as an outbreak occurs. The worst in human nature coming out, each individual believing they're more important than the previous and the next.

From there, we should look at Aragorn. Throughout the LotR movies, he has a tendency to stand up for the downtrodden, hanging out with them, putting any degree of bully in their place.

Unlike us. At the announcement of the Covid-19 pandemic, I heard about strings of racial harassment all across the land, people berating (including physically assaulting) literally any Asian person they came across. One report said an elderly lady screamed at a Chinese woman "GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM AND TAKE YOUR VIRUS WITH YOU!"

So much for common sense and decency.

I immediately made a challenge that, as far I'm aware, no one noticed: "If any of you believe yourselves a good person, this is your chance to prove it and stick up for those who are being bullied."

Nope, there are videos of people throwing racial epithets left and right to anyone of any ethnicity. Black. Asian. Mexican. Why? "Because I'm an American, I speak English, you don't talk that language here, you go back where you came from!"

That's a conglomeration of a couple videos I'd seen, which disturbs me that racism is back, thinking it's powerful again. I started saying "It's 2020, why aren't we acting more enlightened?"

I'd say it's past due time to bring back a fighting spirit and stand up for honor, help those in need instead of puffing ourselves up with misplaced nationalistic pride, learn the strength of humility before we let our pride hit us hard.

I pray we come to toss our pride aside and seek each other's help and show gratitude. Sure, it seems like a pipedream, but it's possible, even if vaguely.

COVID-19 Perspective

The moment in December that I heard about the novel coronavirus, aka Covid-19, aka "the 'rona," aka The Virus Who Must Be Named (On YouTube), I wanted to laugh. Someone's showing concern over a virus named after a beer a friend from church enjoys? Then I heard the detail that made it dangerous; it was man-made, no cure.

Okay, let me just skip a few months. I planned on publishing this several months ago and life just kept throwing curveballs.

So, listen up, I'm not going to take the time to be nice and skirt around controversial words and avoid hurting feelings. You can ask my friends and co-workers, I have a morbid sense of humor many find shocking. Part of what it makes it work is my idiopathic nerves, in that I don't actually care how my audience may get offended at times, context pending.

So, this year started off like Stephen King's The Stand. The way I joked to people about it was sounding like a radio announcer giving the gist of the book in a comparative way to the virus. People who never read were surprised by how far ahead King wrote. Almost immediately after the pandemic and lockdowns were conspiracies flooding in. Some sounded vaguely plausible (some in the long-term sense), others laughably insane (might explain why sanitariums are no longer in use). After that, mixing with racial tensions not seen for decades, we have a powder keg of a nation. Now, people are literally going around being emotional terrorists, cussing out anyone wearing a mask, threatening lawsuits for medical reasons, and trashing retail stores for selling face masks. You can look up any of these on youtube, there's many "Karen compilation" videos of each. Or, as I prefer to call them, "Teri," in anti-honor of the racist lady in a viral video who proclaimed pride of being a white woman having white power.

So much for 2020 being the Year of Enlightenment.

People these days are showing not just a lack of enlightenment, but also of compassion and thoughtfulness. Upon hearing the coronavirus was from China and there was persecution of (and racial attacks against) Chinese people, I made a direct challenge toward anyone who called themselves "good," if you see yourself as a good person, it's time to prove and step up to help those who get trampled upon. Now, later in the year, videos show people using so many racial epithets like we're back in the 1930-50's. No concern about being recorded on video. No concern about being recorded making false crime statements with the intention of getting (I'm going to just say it, I'm not caring enough to skirt around the issue) a black person in trouble just because a white person is scared of the existence of a black person instead of taking a chance to make a new friend.

All this in the same year that, just last December, people were always making jokes about having perfect insight and 20/20 vision. In my sight, we have not progressed at all. I was suspicious that these issues never died off, just went into hibernation. I'm saddened every day that my guess was right. Speaking of guesses... when I heard that the virus was to be done and everything would be good by May (heard it in February), I wanted to laugh. That implied people would follow rules. I've yet to see a strong case for that, I just see strong cases of people not doing that. Also had a famous megachurch pastor (Kenneth Copeland) make a now famous "prophecy" of the coronavirus being destroyed by a heat wave in... May? Really? The same time? Well, that didn't work. The same week he declared the prophecy, God gave him a different kind of burn. A polar vortex giving all of America one last big snowstorm before Colorado would get a strange string of snowstorms. It is written in God's word to call out false prophets. Yes, Copeland, you're a fake. As fake as false religion impersonating God's love and showing evil instead.

Those who see the evidence of the virus, who knows people who've contacted (I've had coworkers and friends who tested positive, some recovered, others I haven't heard yet), and are going with the rules they don't care for (not a fan of the mask, but will wear, despite my asthma) have a "'rona bucket list" of things to do when all is done. It does feel impossible to wait.

So... what's a polyglot bookworm with a taste for creepy movies, video games, and an Autistic Christian to do with this global insanity?

Covid-19: other perspectives

After I started seeing that there's a wide variety of thoughts, feelings, and ideas about how the current pandemic and quarantine has affected people, I started wondering what the perspective of others suffering this ordeal was, so I asked several people (coworkers, friends, and others) how this has changed their lives and, if they have a bucket list, what's something they want to do when quarantine lifts.

Starting off is Yavanna... my cat.

Yavanna:

1. Meow.

2. *purr*

Now that I think about it, she's indoors only, no wonder she says she hasn't known anything about a lockdown.

Karen M:

1. My life hasn't really changed at all. Work is a bit more difficult, but nothing else.

2. I want to eat out. Don't know where, but I just want to go out.

Emily MC:

1. My life hasn't really changed at all, to be honest.
2. I'm a homebody, so probably just do more online shopping.

At this point, I was wondering if I would get any longer answers...

Rebecca L:

1. I mean it's definitely been weird being from everyone. Online learning was mostly okay. Just different and sometimes more stressful. It's been nice to be around my family more.
2. Probably hang out with my friends again or go on vacation.

Okay, finally getting somewhere with detailed answers.

Angela (West Run postmaster):

1. This pandemic hasn't changed my home life any, but the postal work has become more difficult because people are staying home, ordering much more online. It's almost worse than Christmas season, which says something.
2. When this is over, I want to go on a cruise. The one I was planning on got cancelled and is rescheduled for spring 2021, no exact date yet, though.

Not a bad idea. But at this point, I was noticing that everyone I talked to were women. Time to change things.

Alec R:

1. Nothing's really changed for me, still going to work and still looking forward to (I try to keep my blog family-friendly, so let's just say... "sexual expletive deleted") some (more sexual expletive deleted).

2. Like I said, (at this point, he was becoming predictable, you get the idea).

Alec, by the way, I nicknamed "Hollywood," since he always wears sunglasses and has just as shallow a personality. He knows it, too.

Peter J:

1. It hasn't changed my life at home much, but work was a bit different. In fact, the overtime we got to have was real nice. More than that, it was welcome, it helped us out right when we needed it!

2. I really can't think of anything, to be honest.

Eric:

1. About the only big change is not being able to see my own son as much now. That and shaving my beard off.

2. Go on vacation, always wanted to go to Ireland!

Donna:

1. Yeah, always having this (expletive deleted) mask, you know?

2. Yes, my big plan is taking this stupid thing off finally!

These are just a few different yet local perspectives on this pandemic. Next will be my own thoughts on the issue.

Pleading Prayer

Dear Lord,

If this isn't the generation Jesus is to come back, then I plead for the generation to have a new hero rise up. Not a replacement by any means, but someone to help guide our ever-wandering ways back to you, for our own ways have become nothing short of a meaningless labyrinth. We have come to believe men are the root of evil yet still ignore women. We believe we can praise men dressing as women who violently beat actual women and call them "great athletes" yet ignore our hypocrisy at grinding our teeth against wife and girlfriend beaters. We've stopped believing children are your blessing yet protect them only when convicted sex offenders can tell them stories in public places. We have no problem listening to heretics and swindlers and raise hackles to sound truth, especially if it gets in the way of our profits, of which we're fine with illicit ways.

As your theologian Lewis said, we laugh at virtue yet are shocked by treachery from within. This is no less true today than in his time. No, it seems exponentially truer than ever, for honor is a shock factor in our culture, a slap in the face of the indecency we face every day and accept as normal, believing nothing will change it. We show no regret nor shame in our defiance against ideals and virtues that, even if we didn't acknowledge you deigned them, we used to "pretend" they upheld our society and kept things in order. Now, we're so skeptical, we become skeptical against those who show kindness for no reason other than to show it at all.

I desperately plead, if Jesus is not to come again soon, for a hero in our age who eyes is on you.