"During these difficult times..."

[TeamPooka]

“During these difficult times…”
I keep seeing ads on TV refer to these “difficult times” and hearing people talking about wanting things to return to normal.
I think for most people “return to normal” means going back to work, the kids go back to school, going to the ballpark, the movies, or a concert.
Then I think what “normal” really means in America.
If return to normal means going back to 59 percent of American families living paycheck to paycheck,
If return to normal means 130 Americans die every day from opioid overdoses again,
If return to normal means people can go bankrupt because they got sick, and millions can’t afford healthcare, or medical insurance,
If return to normal means ignoring the homeless crisis in this country affecting almost 600,000 people,
If return to normal means having 40,000 gun deaths each year again,
If return to normal means continuing failed public policies like prohibition,
If return to normal means ceding our societal responsibilities to for-profit prisons,
If return to normal means letting a political party suppress the votes of citizens,
If return to normal means increasing the military budget while 1 out of 6 kids go to bed hungry,
If return to normal means ignoring climate change, pollution, and destroying the oceans,
If return to normal means accepting wage inequality, gender inequality, and racial inequality,
If return to normal means all this, then we need to come up with a “new normal” because the “times” have been “difficult” my whole life.
The American people deserve better than normal again. They deserve progress. Now more than ever.

[Takket]

1. Biden 2020

[TeamPooka]

2. Biden and everyone's Senate race.

[2naSalit]

3. +1

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Many things are going to profoundly change.

Many things will not "return to normal".

It's going to take a couple of years or so after the Pandemic ends (vaccine, cure, whatever) but our entire culture is going to be different.

We are already seeing signs of this. Thousands of people are making face masks for health care workers and others. Personal note: my sister who sews has not only made about two hundred face masks and passed them on to local hospitals, but she's mailing me about a half dozen so I can share them with some friends.

Here in Santa Fe a disused college is having dormitory rooms updated to house homeless people. Local people pitched in to do the relatively minor work needed. This is allowing the homeless shelters to accommodate vastly fewer people so as to honor social distancing.

There are various stories out there of people giving money where it is needed now. I have decided that when I get my $1200 I will give half to the homeless shelter I do volunteer work at, and the other half to a local food bank. Yeah, it would be nice to have that money but I don't need it. Others do.

I think we are going to start seeing more and more such stories of people sharing, co-operating, and helping out. A genuine change is happening.

[TeamPooka]

5. I hope you are right