Togetherness

Probably the most difficult aspect of sheltering-in-place is the inability of our youngest family members to get together with their friends and relatives. My older children have moved through that problem here, while observing as many precautions as possible, to allow the cousins (aged 1-13) to see each other once again.

They are all happier as a result. Yes there are risks. But the long-term risk of isolating children is also an extremely risky option, considering the mental health and social development aspects.

At a time when there seem to be no good choices, each family is on their own. Ours is choosing togetherness as much as it proves feasible.

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The main reason I write daily essays is it is my way to connect with people beyond my immediate family. Writing can create connection -- my entire life embodies that quest. As I was telling my daughter yesterday, I was a lonely child, sickly from age ten on, and often without many friends.

That state was exacerbated when our family moved to a town far away from where I'd been born and spent my early years. Up there, I felt like an outsider for many years.

When I finally discovered that people liked my writing, at the University of Michigan, that was the breakthrough that defined my working life going forward.

Yesterday I read an essay by my former college newspaper colleague, Robin Wright, in The New Yorker. In it, she recounts the mostly forgotten history of the Statue of Liberty and its connection to the anti-slavery movement of its time.

Robin, who has spent the bulk of her brilliant career as an international correspondent, reports that the dominant feeling overseas toward our country now is not admiration but pity.

Our friends around the world pity us. We have elected a man who stokes the ugly diseases of racism and hate in order to advance his own prospects. For us to remain silent about this is to be complicit in his despicable behavior.

Last night, at Mount Rushmore, he delivered a divisive diatribe against an imaginary foe, a far-left fascist element that is a fiction of his tortured imagination. Today, he will preside over a massive fireworks show in Washington, D.C., that health officials warn is dangerously unwise.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that about 80 percent of the traditional fireworks events have been cancelled around the country, where more responsible officials are doing the right thing at a moment when the pandemic is exploding all around us.

I'll make a prediction: Donald Trump will be remembered by historians as the worst President in the history of the United States. Offered a golden opportunity to strike a blow against the ugly heritage  of racism and hate in this country he chooses instead to celebrate those awful traditions.

He might have been a leader for the ages. Instead he is the object of pity by enlightened people everywhere. As for those who continue to support him, they too will be consigned to the margins of history.

Americans suffer the illusion that their votes are private. But the way you vote is easily deduced from the election rolls, party registrations, primary ballots cast, voting tabulations of the neighborhoods where you live, your voting history and other data, including petitions you sign or photos of you at rallies.

So no, there are no secrets about your political activity. Your vote is visible to those who want to know, which include the massive propaganda arms of the two major political parties.

That's worth thinking about next time you cast a ballot. Te essential question of our time is which side of history are you on?



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