"Yeah well, everyone here has got problems. Yours just may work out." -- Rick (Casablanca)
_______
Some don't realize it yet, but this is a moment to savor. There has not been a time quite like this one previously in most of our lifetimes.
I say *most* because I suspect there are a handful of 100-year-olds out there who know what I'm talking about.
The present moment is filled with romantic intrigue. We've all just stepped out of the shadows and are blinking at how bright the sun is. The tension is because we may well be headed back into the shadows all too soon.
So we've got to get it while we can.
Covid was the longest night we've ever been through, with the exception of those who live too near the arctic circle. It also was the most divisive night when it could and should have been the most unifying.
If we hadn't fought over it so pointlessly we would have seen it as a precious chance to grasp that all of us, and I mean all of us, were in a fight for our lives against a common enemy. That the enemy was too small for the naked eye made the fight all the more intense.
The only thing I can compare this with is my imagination of that brief window of time when World War II had started in some places but not in all. Everybody knew what was coming but it wasn't here quite yet so millions of people suddenly had life-or-death decisions to make.
Should I stay or should I go? Huge migrations occurred all over the world. Families were split up, never to reunite. Couples who had reached the tipping point of love had to decide on the spot how they really felt about each other. There might not be another chance.
Of course love is the biggest of risk of all, so the stakes could not have been higher. My own parents married at that very point in history. I never asked them about it.
***
Almost everybody I talk to around here is in transition right now and they feel a measure of urgency that is easy to perceive. It was difficult if not impossible to make big changes in their lives during the pandemic and that makes this time special.
That's good news for me, I suppose, because I've always loved helping people when they are in transition. Not that being settled doesn't have its selling points -- you know which key opens your door, you know how the seatbelt in your car works, you know what's for breakfast and who that person in the bed next to you will be when you wake up tomorrow.
At work, you know who the boss is and who you're the boss of -- as if *that* matters one bit in the great scheme of things.
The point is you know what is known.
But when you strike out for something new, you don't know any of those kind of things. You may go someplace you've never been before, find yourself speaking a new language, eating food you'd swore you'd never try, wear a uniform you didn't know you'd like, hold tight to somebody you barely even knew existed until one special night.
One of my favorite colleagues used to have as his mantra "change is good," and of course he wasn't the first to say it, just as I won't be the last.
Like all such truisms, you can't live by that philosophy in a literal sense because not *all* change is good for all people all of the time. Some changes are downright horrible.
But maintaining the status quo isn't always the greatest thing either.
You just have to figure out when to listen to that little whisper that this is your time to fly, even though you don't know which way the wind will blow.
So call somebody who knows what it's like to be the next feather in the breeze.
***
Recently I started up a new daily regime -- walking to a nearby park. It helps when I am pondering why it gives me pleasure helping other people realize their dreams when I don't have a clue how to reach my own.
What makes it worse is I'm not even sure what my dreams are. So that makes for a pretty melancholy mood.
One day on my way to the park, I passed a house with its garage door opened and a younger man working inside. He raised his hand in greeting.
I smiled and waved back. He walked down the driveway to where I was standing; we've met once or twice before.
I was in no hurry to get anywhere, not even the park, so I lingered. He wanted to strike up a conversation. He asked how I was doing, and as happens occasionally, this triggered one of those monologues where I talked about how one thing is connected to another thing and another thing and so on endlessly-- basically expressing my core belief that all life and ideas and feelings are somehow cosmically interchangeable.
And maybe that in itself means something or maybe it means nothing. I'm just not sure. This really is a rather odd habit of mine and I probably should work on losing it .
But the young man was actually listening intently, nodding and urging me on.
"You're just what I need right now. You're like a wise man," he said. "I'm glad I flagged you down."
"No, please," I said. "I'm more like a crazy person just trying to escape the solitary confinement of his own making."
"Well I'm tracking with you perfectly," he said. "What you said makes perfect sense in every way. Everything *is* connected to everything else."
I looked at him a little more closely. "Are you stoned?"
He smiled. "Yeah man I just smoked some great weed."
Afterward I made my way on to the park. My mind was actually far away, focused on somebody else with beautiful eyes and her transition. Suddenly a song I like in Spanish came into my head. If I could write the final line, I would:
"Por favor llévame contigo..."
***
THE HEADLINES:
* July 2021 was Earth’s hottest month ever recorded, NOAA finds (WP)
* Extreme Weather in the Midwest Leads to Power Outages (NYT)
* The Latest: Australia capital’s lockdown until no more virus (AP)
* Sicily Registers Record-High Temperature as Heat Wave Sweeps Italian Island (NYT)
* Climate-fueled wildfires take toll on tropical Pacific isles (AP)
* The 11-year-old British boy walking to save the earth (Reuters)
* Heat wave edges higher in southern Europe, fuels wildfires (AP)
* Another Major Heat Wave Is Bringing Triple-Digit Temps To The Pacific Northwest (NPR)
* Iran’s Health System ‘Beyond Disastrous’ from Covid Surge (NYT)
* Supreme Court won’t block Indiana University’s vaccine mandate (WP)
* WHO seeks to take political heat out of virus origins debate (Reuters)
* These People Who Work From Home Have a Secret: They Have Two Jobs -- When the pandemic freed employees from having to report to the office, some saw an opportunity to double their salary on the sly. Why be good at one job, they thought, when they could be mediocre at two? (WSJ)
* U.S. Embassy In Kabul Tells Staff To Destroy Sensitive Material And Evacuate (NPR)
* VIDEO: Taliban Forces Sweep Across Afghanistan (NYT)
* Afghanistan’s rapid collapse is part of a long, slow U.S. defeat (WP)
* Taliban tighten grip on Afghanistan as all eyes turn to capital Kabul (Reuters)
* Afghan forces, senior officials surrender as Taliban closes in (WP)
* Afghanistan Collapse Accelerates as the Taliban Capture 3 Vital Cities -- Kandahar, Lashkar Gah and Herat have now fallen to the insurgents, who are racing to seize control of the entire country. (NYT)
* U.S. Is Sending 3,000 Troops Back to Afghanistan to Begin Evacuations -- With the Taliban sweeping across the country, U.S. officials say Kabul could fall in 30 days. (NYT)
* U.S. Asks Taliban to Spare Its Embassy in Coming Fight for Kabul (NYT)
* California's Asian population grew by 25% in the past decade, making it the fastest growing ethnic group in the nation's most populous state, according to new data from the U.S. (AP)
* The Bay Area outpaced both California and the U.S. in population growth over the past decade, hitting a record high of 7.77 million total people last year. That’s one of the many takeaways for the region from the release of the 2020 decennial census data Thursday. (SF Chronicle)
* On Sept. 14, California voters will decide whether Gov. Gavin Newson (D) should be recalled, and who should replace him. It's a peculiar system that could catapult an unknown Republican into office and President Joe Biden has waded into it. But the outcome could also cost the Democratic caucus its razor-thin Senate majority, explains Jessica Schulberg. [HuffPost]
* With more than 39 percent of state residents identifying as Hispanic or Latino in the 2020 census, California’s Hispanic population is now the largest in the state, outstripping the state’s white population. (U.S. Census Bureau)
* Joel Greenberg, an associate of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), has been providing "thousands of photos and videos" to federal authorities as he cooperates with an investigation into the Florida lawmaker, ABC Newsreported. These materials could potentially implicate Gaetz, who is at the center of an investigation of allegations of child sex trafficking, bribery and obstruction of justice. Gaetz has denied the allegations. [HuffPost]
* A Lawyer’s Deathbed Confession About a Sensational 1975 Kidnapping -- Samuel Bronfman, heir to the Seagram fortune, was abducted by two men who confessed to the crime. But then their story evolved wildly, and the jury believed it. Was it all a lie? (NYT)
* Mammoth tusk holds clues to ice age extinctions (Reuters)
* Digital Addictions Are Drowning Us in Dopamine --Rising rates of depression and anxiety in wealthy countries like the U.S. may be a result of our brains getting hooked on the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure. (WSJ)
* Study Finds No Greater Sign Of Delusion Than Sending Coworkers Your Personal Email On Last Day (The Onion)
***
“Para dónde vas”
The Iguanas
Written by: JOE CABRAL, RODNEY GILBERT HODGES
Para dónde vas
Para dónde vas
Para dónde vas
Para dónde vas, dónde vas
Para dónde vas, muchacha
Para dónde vas, oye mujer
Para dónde vas, dime
Para dónde vas, dónde vas
Si vas al baile, baila conmigo
Si vas al carnival quiero ir contigo
Si vas a donde quiera
No me quedo atrás
Porque quiero amarte
Más why más
Para dónde vas, muchacha
Para dónde vas, oye mujer
Para dónde vas, Oh yeah
Para dónde vas, dónde vas
Para dónde vas
Para dónde vas
Para dónde vas
Para dónde vas, dónde vas
Si vas al baile, baila conmigo
Si vas al carnival quiero ir contigo
Si vas a dónde quiera
No me quedo atrás
Porque quiero amarte
Más why más vime
Para dónde vas, muchacha
Para dónde vas, un da mujer
Para dónde vas, Oh yeah
Para dónde vas, dónde vas
Para dónde vas, Oh yeah oy
Para dónde vas, La la la la
Para dónde vas, porque quiero ne mese
Para dónde vas, dónde vas
Dónde vas, dónde vas
-30-
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