An Outbreak Outing

來源: lostalley 2020-08-06 14:16:41 [] [博客] [舊帖] [給我悄悄話] 本文已被閱讀: 次 (5631 bytes)

Since I wrote the below on the eve of the outbreak, much has changed. In the name of freedom, from individual refusal to wear masks to presidential rebuttal of professional expertise, America, the home of the brave and land of the free, seems a perfect tailer-made suit for COVID-19 to wear. Sad. 

 

An Outbreak Outing

By Lostalley 3/20/2020

 

I am reading the Plague by Albert Camus, listening to contemporary music by Phillip Rombi, trail walking, occasional shopping but not stockpiling, and scheduling for a drink with friends for whom joy is indispensable even in the face of death. 

 

Yes, pandemic is getting closer, but I’m not counting. Let it be. I enjoy the distant viewpoint of an onlooker much more than a player too involved in the game to know who is more at stake. A hedonist and cynic, I’m striking for a fine and perhaps futile balance here: enough to hold the ground while pursuing the elusive. 

 

I get emotional when seeing innocent people suffering, Chinese, Americans, Italians, Iranians, or else. But it doesn’t stay long. Apathy returns when airwaves are filled with soundbites of alarmists and my iPhone with images of misery and spite. Finger pointing,  rumor spewing, disaster profiteering; and war-drum beating; a cacophony of panic, a carnival for all conspiracy theorists; a foreplay of the worst instincts; an orgy for voyeurs and vulgarians, whereas all are guilty in the eyes of Nature. What appears an existential threat by a coincidental monster virus is indeed stained with fingerprints of an insatiable impetus known as GREED. “Be merciful, Almighty, “ so yearned by the crowds of cowards. Would the pleading be heeded ? Or should it be? 

 

Just exiting Home Depot past a tiny pound, two languishing Canadian Geese glance over me or my car or my shadow? They seem aloof and stoic, oblivious to what’s going on in a deformed world in which species like them are forced to adapt or abandon. 

 

It’s a balmy day of 70 plus degree, eerily calm for March Madness, when American collegiate basketball teams would start slaughtering each other with massive attendees packed in stadiums. A potential perfect storm for Coronavirus. Across the Pacific, Formidable Country’s patriotic netizens aka Five Penny Trolls must be sighing in the lost opportunity. 

 

On my way back, I’m whistling a familiar song long forgotten. What a wonderful world!

所有跟帖: 

哇,是不是英文專業出身?怎麽寫得這麽自如啊。 -妖靈後- 給 妖靈後 發送悄悄話 妖靈後 的博客首頁 (46 bytes) () 08/06/2020 postreply 16:36:14

眼力厲害 -lostalley- 給 lostalley 發送悄悄話 lostalley 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 08/06/2020 postreply 18:08:48

你居然會中文?:)眼神不好,想成two tiny ponds了:)查了一下, -妖靈後- 給 妖靈後 發送悄悄話 妖靈後 的博客首頁 (267 bytes) () 08/06/2020 postreply 19:00:31

Double 'out", word play -lostalley- 給 lostalley 發送悄悄話 lostalley 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 08/06/2020 postreply 19:17:08

tiny pond -lostalley- 給 lostalley 發送悄悄話 lostalley 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 08/06/2020 postreply 18:09:35

這個是語言專業的。很多詞日常少用。however, America is drifting away from -rockcurrent- 給 rockcurrent 發送悄悄話 rockcurrent 的博客首頁 (210 bytes) () 08/09/2020 postreply 08:39:22

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