Where will it end?

Recently I have talked to a number of people who are feeling what I am feeling. It’s been too long. Someone mentioned yesterday that we have been under restriction for eight months. No wonder it seems so long. We are all just ready for this to end but it won’t yet.

In my area the numbers are decreasing and I hope in other areas as well. The riots and anger are not helping. I think the stress of the pandemic is fueling some of it. People are just frustrated.

Does anyone recognize our life now? There is violence and killing in cities that have never had that before. Those of us at risk for the virus are trapped avoiding exposure. Schools can’t decide what is best to do. Businesses are going under and people are out of work. This doesn’t sound like my world.

There were riots during the Viet Nam era. There were “demonstrations” during the civil rights era (God bless MLK) but nothing like this. Understanding what has caused all this unrest is complex. The feud between the police and BLM is almost like the Hatfields and the McCoys (if anyone remembers what that was). Logic has been left behind and only anger and hatred remain.

I wonder if anyone thinks any good will come of all of this? Does violence change things more than non-violent demonstrations? I’m not sure it does. I think that the crusades of MLK and Gandhi are remembered more. Will that be the case in the future? Will this nation withstand this or will it fall?

From my history background I remember a historian named Arnold Toynbee who said that when the moral fiber of a nation declines the nation falls. We are certainly there. What is to come?