Is there a normal anymore?

This week was heavy. Somewhere between Joe Biden being the democratic nominee, hearing The Daily episode about the Wisconsin primary, and whatever awful thing Donald Trump said or did, it really hit me. That and the slow realization that this (this being the pandemic causing massive death, disruption, and suffering) is the kind of economic changeover we would need to be at in order to stave off climate change. And since that’s impossible, or at least highly improbable, this state of the world will become much more familiar. I won’t let myself say “when things return to normal” because I’m not sure there is a normal to return to. Coronavirus is lifting up the rock and exposing so many things that are wrong with our world, and especially things here in the US.

Bleak.

All that, and it’s gorgeous outside. The birds are talking about how we never go out anymore. The flowers bloom with a radiance that’s all the more alive. It is so asynchronous with the information going into these same eyeballs, of new infections, of death rates, of incredible economic damage. Beautiful radiant spring, in stark contrast against such human troubles.

Still, it may be trite but it’s also true, I’m so thankful to be alive.