We are speaking now about FACTS PEOPLE ACTUALLY BELIEVE.
(As distinguished from political facts, or personal facts, or opinions. Though it does seem important to distinguish at some point what exactly we mean when we speak about FACTS, what are the FACTS about facts, especially as all the facts continue to be changing.)
The fact, for example, that the average worker is going to be left on the beach after this crisis.
No bailout Boondoggles says the Governor.
I sound-out Boon-doggles, then look it up on the internet. Wikipedia says that a “Boondoggle” is a project that is considered a waste of both time and money, yet is often continued due to extraneous policy or political motivations. Still I wonder, where did this word come from etymologically?
Well.
As it turns out, during the late 1920s, Boy Scouts at summer camps began to learn the recreational activity of “boondoggling” along with swimming and earning other merit badges. “Boondoggling,” which is basically a form of making macrame keychains, was coined as such in 1930 by an Eagle Scout named Robert Link from Rochester, New York. Whether or not this relates to the boondocks, or sitting down by the docks, or dawdling, one can’t quite say, but the term stuck, as did the practice, at least in a recreational sense.
When the Great Depression hit, among other things that the WPA supported were measures for (re)training unemployed white-collar workers like teachers in a number of different “extracurricular” activities with the intention that they would then share them with members of the community. This included Boondoggling, which became one of the anti-FDR memes of the time, synonymous with the frivolous wasted energy of the WPA. In this ironic and misunderstood twist, an activity that encouraged children to recycle and reuse materials, ended up becoming synonymous with waste itself. Roosevelt was known to have admired the word in a 1936 speech, in which he said, “If we can boondoggle our way out of the Depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of Americans for many years to come.”
It is interesting the different versions of history that come through in the end. I suppose, if one looks at it a certain way, Recreation itself is Wasted Time. Of course, this is a lens that will most likely be found #onlyinAmerica.
While we are speaking about the New Deal, it seems the WPA funded quite a few interesting pursuits, including circus acts and eurythmic dancing, a practice well known in the Waldorf Schools of Rudolph Steiner. They also funded Walker Evans, and Dorothea Lange. It is hard in this moment not to thing of Andrew Yang and his arguments about the future of automation, and the subsequent necessity to emphasize the uniquely human capacities of creativity. For if the economy is in a depression and we have limited possibilities to consume, what else can we do besides create?
The city seems smaller for all of us now. He walks the dog around the block spreading the Gospel of the Mask and gets in an argument with a man who is not wearing one. If he wasn’t the Governor walking with his daughter, well, who knows what would have happened. But the themes remain the same.
Reciprocal Responsibility. I Respect You. (Even if you don’t respect me.)
Though isn’t that the trick? The challenge of working with people, even fighting with people, who make the decision for take cheap shots? Who aren’t playing by the same rules? Who decide that the Rule of Rules just doesn’t exist?
Cormac McCarthy once said that the only thing we really desire is a worthy opponent. A worthy opponent being one that doesn’t kick us while we are down, one that respects the parameters of the match.
We are in the second phase now, waiting for the second wave, or maybe there is a Rogue Wave waiting out there on the horizon. You never know with those Rogue Waves, they can really pack a punch.
Studies now show that the infection rate amongst emergency workers is less than that of common individuals. How’s that for facts, and for that matter, personal responsibility?
In this new world we are surrounded by vulnerable truth. We become accustomed to listening to imperfect disconnected screens, where everything is a realtime dress rehearsal.
I get the pressure. I get it in stereo.
Yes, you should be aware, your children are in danger. But so are you. This is not a government exercise, this is a social exercise. A function of the actions of every individual. Stay humble, this virus has been ahead of us every step of the way, and is not afraid to exert its authority.
Americans First Law. Respect. That is America’s first law.
Maybe as a result of this virus we will boondoggle our way into some new infrastructure. That’s okay. We can trade ballet for infrastructure, as long as we don’t forget the importance of ballet.
You ask me what is going to happen in September. Or August. And I’m still trying to figure out June. You ask me for answers, convictions. And I’m still trying to deal with the previous sentence.
Some people are not happy. But then again, some people are never happy. I know, I have a lot of them in my family. All the same we have to be able to say, “We did everything we could.” That’s the only way you can put your head on the pillow at night.
You can’t save everybody.
You’re going to lose some people.
That’s life. Someone else is in charge of that.
Much higher than my pay grade.
By the way, says the Governor, nice mask.
Thanks, she said, I made it. It used to be a dress.
Who are we now, and who do we want to become?
What are our rituals, our strategies to get there?
What are the deepest things that hold us back?
Courage is starting, Pride is finishing. Remember why you matter and you will never get lost on the roadmap to success. Here and now we build up our Core Confidence as individuals, as nations, as a species. This is who we are and what we have to contribute to this global ecology.
It is about finding the balance, between what we take out, and what we give back.
Remember why you matter. Clarity is the most wonderful thing. Makes it easy to move on with Peace and Happiness.
In Berlin people are celebrating the day the Russians marched into town and liberated the people from the Nazis. Of course they celebrate this in a distinctly un-socially distanced style, gathering masses of contained support that have the flavor of a protest. I am with this; I am against that; I support this historical moment of liberation. That they do so at the potential cost of health, their own or others, seems a negligent detail.
These are our current negotiations. Perhaps this is why the Golden Rule is so hard to live by — I only do unto others, as I would have them do unto me, while they, simultaneously, are theoretically doing the same thing. How often it is, that we give what we want to receive, without ever asking, if what we want, is the same thing as our neighbor.
All the same, just because we may not want the same thing, does that mean it isn’t in our best interests to work together? As said by David Miliband, there has been precious little sign of intergovernmental collaboration and collective leadership in this crisis. Instead, much of the worldwide response has been characterized by national self-interest, mutual suspicion, and recrimination.
Who, for example, is taking the time to think about South Sudan, with its population of 10 million, and only 4 ventilators? Or Northern Syria, where there are all of 11 ventilators? The refugee crisis is already upon us, and will only become worse if things continue in this manner.
Yes, we are learning lessons in this time, but make sure they are the right lessons. We have seen the holes in our safety net, and now is the time to address them. It is like the ozone layer — which has apparently been able to repair itself since the onset of Covid19. Self-regulation, yes, but also intervention where necessary.
This is a disease of the Connective World. Full stop.
We need a different kind of globalization now, one that is more equal and sustainable, not a series of fortresses. Of course we cannot make good on public health failures of the last 20 years in the next two weeks, but we can stop the denialism, stop the head-in-the-sandism, and address the self-sabotaging danger of self-interest. Global actions can serve national purposes, just as community actions can serve individual health. We shouldn’t forget the number of sane people still out there, even if they are filling their time boondoggling.
This is a contest of lessons, a challenge of the status quo anti.
History moving very fast right now, and we must get very good at processing news and understanding what is significant and what is disinformation. That is our quarantine homework.
Even though these are dark times, I don’t want to make them darker.
And we don’t have to, that’s the key. We have the power to open our eyes and look up and see the sky above, the stars, the clouds rushing past, present things that clear the mind and allow us to listen deeper, hear the more important things.
The symphony orchestra of the universe.