Well some year we have had. I have joked that when the clock strikes midnight on January 1, 2021 we can actually claim 20-20 hindsight. 2020 is finally over! Although, it might take historians a long time to have a complete understanding of what happened that year. It has been a wild and crazy one.
It all stopped for me in March 11. I was working from home after two days of teaching in Lynchburg (a bit more about that later), when word came down that the state went in the COVID-19 lock down. I have not traveled since and been to Richmond twice for a half hour. I realize that I am fairly egocentric here; however, this is my blog and I assume you all read and follow the news.
If being locked up wasn't bad enough, we had to do this under Donald tRump, the now expected temporary occupant of the Whitehouse. I think in hindsight (there is that word again) he was completely unprepared, uninterested and unwilling to deal with the Corona virus. I read Bob Woodward's book (Rage) on the subject, and it is amazing. tRump was only interested in the end of the impeachment trial, the upcoming reelection, and the stock market. More and more were we seeing how he was trying to undo anything Obama had done and literally screw up this country.
And then we got the murder of George Floyd. The shit hit the fan and it lit the country on fire (in addition the the wildfires that were raging in the west). tRump proved that he really was without empathy and he could only call for law and order. In addition to being without empathy, tRump also proved he was without religion and obviously analphabetic, holding the bible upside down, while grandstanding in front of a church in Washington. Speculations are that his law and order stance is what eventually would be the reason he lost the elections (but historians will be the better judge of that). But now at the beginning of the new year, he is still fighting the outcome of the elections. I think one thing is for sure: history will not be kind to the tRump presidency. He ran this country like his company. Into the ground, bankrupting it, morally and financially.
On a more personal level, my past couple of posts have been more introspective about my so called house arrest under the Corona virus. I wrote about my teleworking and my lack of inspiration lately; however, my mind and body have been busy. We restored our deck this summer and that was a huge job. I split a large oak by hand for our wood stove. Of course, I also spent a lot of time with my bonsai. I did a lot of reading and thinking.
One thing that fascinates me is moral and religious hypocrisy. This is something that is sorely missing in the current Whitehouse, with a lot of political leaders and with a lot of religious leaders. Politically, we encountered Lindsey Graham after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died or Ted Cruz who after all the abuse he, his wife and his father got from tRump still happily defends him, hoping to gain politically.
On a personal level I was fascinated by Jerry Falwell and his downfall from Liberty University in Lynchburg, the last place I visited before lockdown. I wrote about Falwell and the university in this post. It was uncovered that good old Jerry enjoyed watching his wife having sex with other (younger) men. He was supposedly sitting in a chair next to the bed, enjoying his private porn show. I have not seen reports on whether he was dressed or not, and what else he was doing at the time (I want to bet that he wasn't reading the newspaper). It seems that there are quite a few men in healthy marriages who enjoy this type of relationship either as a way of being humiliated (for lacking something somewhere) or just the joy of sharing. This is an interesting article on the subject. In other words, I am not condemning it; I am condemning Jerry's hypocrisy. So yes, it fascinates me that someone at the head of such a prominent religious institution who claims to be the north star of the moral compass has his or her human quirks that eventually bring them to their knees. To think that all the conservative politicians would visit Jerry and Liberty U. to get their blessing, and that students would need to stay celibate, while Jerry had his private porn show, curtesy of his wife.
The hypocrisy of it all. But then I read that Joel Osteen is so filthy rich that finally his flock is seeing right through him and some are abandoning him. The poverty we have thanks to tRump, COVID, his tax cuts for the wealthy and running the economy into the ground, while these mega-church pastors, University and company presidents are getting richer and living the life! Lines at food banks are longer than ever, and Jerry got a severance package worth a few million. But our millionaire politicians can only come up with $600 for the regular folks, which does not even cover the rent. You get the message: hypocrisy abound in 2020.
Well folks some year it has been. Let us not look back too long, but hope for a better tomorrow. Happy New Year!