the stress test of the virus

a reboot?

perhaps—

we as a species need to reboot,

too many glitches in our operating system,

a shut-down,

a retreat,

a distancing,

so that we can ground ourselves

in home, in family, in nature,

and, sadly, in the despair

that societal choices have created in health care, in pay,,

and that personal choices have unleashed with self-indulgence,

and a denial of our better selves,

too many of us have lived paycheck to paycheck,

with little wiggle room,

like the “brilliant” supply-side innovation

of minimal inventory and restocking only on demand,

I like to buy necessities to have them readily available

when the unforeseen reveals itself,

financial advisors caution to have 6-8 months worth of cash

readily available, just in case,

but in the perverse cruelty that masks as unbridled capitalism,

workers are paid as little as possible,

just as Karl Marx described,

while the owners and the big bosses make out like bandits,

which they are, just as Marx described,

health care in the U.S. as uneven as wages,

not enough safety net of government ensuring coverage, services,

in this last week oil company executives visit the White House

and get tested freely for Covid 19,

while those in the front lines often can’t get tested,

or have the right protective gear,

this virus is a stress test for our economic, political, and social systems,

this virus is also a stress test for our individual psyches,

for those of us fortunate enough

to have access to trees and grass and flowering spring,

to have access to gardens and growing,

we can reboot in spring

just as the natural reboots,

we can seek to flower anew

and bear fruit with our lives

as the wan can open anew,

I fear for the less fortunate,

whether from their own mistakes or from societal failures,

we are all in this together,

and I want to know others as myself, too.

by Henry H. Walker

April 12, ‘20