“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”

                                                               Plato, The Republic

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Today I’ve got nothing

Because today my mind simply knows

Nothing

It understands, nothing

It can explain, nothing

And it has no answers

I watch a leader whose one job is to protect the people he leads

Protect himself, and maybe a few privileged others

and fumble the response to this crisis

time and time and time again

I watch Governors plead for the resources they need

and fail to receive those resources

for no reason other than spite

I read about scammers using the crisis and the stimulus

To rob sacred and vulnerable people of what they need to survive

I watch hoarders sell critical supplies

at outrageous prices

I watch people bicker and fight over the smallest things on facebook

And longtime friends become alienated

I watch governors refused to make the hard decisions necessary to protect

Their people.  Will they pay? Maybe, maybe not, but why take the chance?

I watch

I listen

I read

And I got nothing

I don’t understand it

I cannot wrap my head around such dysfunction

Deceit

Cruelty

Negligence

Hate

Exclusion

Greed

I cannot understand why so many have decided to listen to the meaner angels of their nature.

I cannot understand why some people can be this way

Do these things

Disregard others

Lie

Misinform

create death and damage

I cannot understand why others support them

Approve of them

Cheer for them

I cannot make sense of it all

And it hurts my soul

And makes my heart ache

And Yet

In the midst of it all there are signs of hope

Little things

Communities mobilizing to help each other

Companies paying wages for workers who can’t work

Governors making unpopular decisions because they are the right decisions

I see truth tellers (thank you Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, not so much)

I see kind souls shopping for others

I see people staying home

People supporting each other via the phone

The other day I saw a younger person give an older shopper

Standing in the middle of empty shelves

The toilet paper they had managed to grab…

There are those listening to the better angels of our nature (Lincoln)

And I have to believe

Those are the people connected, somehow, to the Sacred

Those are the branches clinging to the vine

As to those who talk God

And lie

Talk God,

and put others at risk for money

Talk God

And practice racism (Chinese Virus)

Talk God

And hoard

Talk God

And suggest it is OK for people to die for their 401k

I have no words

Just prayers