The workers are going home

-Posted by Isaac

So how’s the pandemic going for you?

That’s great!

I’m, like you, trying to wrap my head around this thing. And I can’t. It seems like a best-of-times, worst-of-times type of thing.

To tell you the truth, we’re sort of enjoying ourselves. Homeschooling at Honeyrun Farm:

Science-

And more science—

And more—

Out on the range…

…and into the woods

…and out on the water

…and back to the woods

…finding and foraging

…and planting

…and growing.

We’ve got the natural sciences covered.

But social studies, not so much. Myself, I’m stuck on PANDEMIC 101. While we hide ourselves, sorta schooling, sorta working, the history of this moment grinds on. Day by day.

Remember a month ago? The virus starts spreading on home turf and we see memes and messages everywhere: We’re all in this together.

I’m not seeing this so much anymore. All of us still want to beat this thing and get back to normal, but part of us want “normal” to be right now. And they’re loud about it.

We’re picking teams again. And me being the sympathizer, the fence-sitter, I’m seeing it from both sides. It’s hard. Which team do I choose? Social Studies is definitely tougher than Science.

Usually I can find my bearings by stepping back and looking at things from a distance.

And when you look at it that way, it starts to make sense.

Sometimes a friend on Facebook will help you out. A beekeeping buddy of mine has had segments with this handsome guy on his news feed. This is the first I’ve taken the time to watch.

That settled the question even further. The handsome guy sort of consolidated my wondering thoughts. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what happens when a fantasy (“back to normal”) crashes headlong into a hard truth (the virus spreads and kills.)

And then there’s always old friends. Here’s an old construction buddy:

He’s still doing construction these 25 years later, but now he’s the big shot foreman on big projects. He’s not going back until there’s a vaccine… official “reopening” or not. And I can’t imagine he’s the only one who feels this way.

Kind of hard to keep that economy chugging without the chuggers.

So that clenched it for me. I’m choosing my team. Whew! That had me worried. Social Studies will eat you alive. If they could only present the stuff as sort of a math function.

VIRUS=SPREAD=DEATH=FEAR=SHUTDOWN=PROTESTS=REOPENING=VIRUS=SPREAD=DEATH=FEAR=SHUTDOWN=PROTESTS=REOPENING=VIRUS…..…to societal meltdown or vaccine. Whichever comes first.

That little text conversation got me thinking of a Weezer song about workers getting screwed by the system— Jonas. And wouldn’t you know it, just a few minutes later the very song came up on my Pandora music feed.

I had to laugh. The dozer will not clear a path… the driver swears he learned his math…

THE WORKERS ARE GOING HOME!

Let’s just hope they never decide to protest.