Quarantine Diary #130 7/22/2020 What's in your glass?

In the last few weeks one of my knees has decided it is the current star of the MB show. I overused it one day, I know when that was, ever since it’s been wonky. I have to baby it otherwise it hurts more than a little. Aging isn’t for wusses. 

I am walking less because walking a lot makes it worse.  I CAN ride a bike as much as I want since that doesn’t exacerbate the situation. I’m trying to weigh less, which is its own comedy.

The knee is better this week than last week. I suspect this is just one more overused part of older me than can heal. I’ve talked to my designated medical person; I’ll get professional help if I need to. Meantime, it’s very clear that sitting here at my desk is really hard on the knee.  I limp a lot after an hour or two of writing.

My plan is to write shorter posts, Maybe post some old columns from back in the ‘Lost in Racine’ days.

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I have typed “How many days since March 13th” into Google so many times that it now finishes this question before I do. Today, the answer is 130 days. 

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Three days ago when riding my bike, I stopped at a place where I was going to stretch my legs and then turn around to ride back home. 

An older women (and by older I mean my age…) was walking past. “What a stupid place to stop. You can smell the garbage from that trash can.”

And then she kept on walking.

I muttered at her. “And hello to you, too, Mrs. Glass is Half Empty.”  Sheesh. Who says that to a stranger? Why did she even care?

The next day, on the same path but further along, an older woman (yeah, my age) was walking two tiny dogs. She and the dogs stepped off the path for me. I called out, “Thank you. I’m sure your pups are more stable than I am…” 

She laughed and retorted, “You’re looking good. Have a nice day!”

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So much of what we see and do, especially in a free-for-all global pandemic, has to do with our own attitude. I’m still feeling happy that the second woman thought I looked good. She chose a bit of laughter and some encouragement and it stayed in me all day.  

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The “Brown Shirt” federal officers in Portland that Trump is threatening to send to other Democrat-led cities – they are scary. It is an overreach of power. It is playing to his base.

But as people post old photos of Hitler’s Brown Shirts arresting civilians – let me remind us all of this.  There are very few photographs from that era of people resisting. Some did, but mostly that was underground. People going into their streets to protest in non-violent ways, over and over and over, in many places around the nation, that didn’t happen in Germany. 

The Wall of Moms is new. There are now some Dads joining these protests with leaf blowers (!) to blow back the tear gas. Not kidding. I’m not going to protests and even I have been in one. There’s a BLM poster in my front window. (Yes, it makes me a little nervous). Good candidates are running all over this nation and we have donated modestly to some of them. 

A lot of what we are seeing depends on what we choose to see. This is a dangerous time, no doubt. But it is also the most activist time most of us have witnessed since the 60’s and 70’s. It is history repeating itself. And then it is NOT history repeating itself.

Yes, there was a garbage can and I saw it once the grouchy woman criticized me for standing not far from it. There was also a slough, cattails blowing in the wind, lots and lots of birds singing, and a little kid up ahead on her little kid bike with the sun shining on her red hair that was streaming out from under her bike helmet. 

Go out there. Do something. Find your niche. Look for the powerful good stuff that is happening, too. Support it. Join it. This story is not even close to over.

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The cool picture was taken by my niece Susan Lawrence. Thanks, Susan.