TALLYING THE COST: FRUSTRATIONS FROM THE PANDEMIC

We should soon start seeing publication of

books about the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. Dozens of personal narratives, political analyses, medical histories, and novels will appear, documenting the tragedies,

heroic actions, deepest thoughts, and inner feelings of a nation during a very difficult time. People still write books about Vietnam, the Second World War, even the pandemic of 1918, so we’ll have the coronavirus books before long.

We’ll get a head start. The three of us now reveal some of the frustrations we’ve endured as we lived through this. What drove us crazy? What made us angry? What left us feeling down? Where did we find hope? We each have a story:

Woodson: Frustrations with Family

Frustration with my fellow Evangelical Christians over their response to advice on

taking safety precautions against the virus sits at the top of my list of frustrations I’ve dealt with during the pandemic.  I say fellow Evangelicals because I count myself among them.  I am, however, of the William Barber Evangelical variety.  I believe Jesus died for my sins. I also find intrinsic to the gospel a demand that Christians fight for social justice for all.

I am distressed when I hear the thing some of my Evangelical friends say in response to the call that they exercise safety measures on behalf of themselves and others. I have

been admonished with words like, “I’m not going to worry about the pandemic. You’re not going to go before your time!”  Have they not read Luke 2:52 and the boast that the Lord was wise? It says there, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and

stature, and in favor with God and man.” Then there’s Proverbs 1:7, which says, “… fools despise wisdom and

instruction.” Or maybe they should remember Proverbs 4:5 and, “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not …” Translation: God honors knowledge!

My Evangelical brothers and sisters behave as if they find knowledge and science and Christianity antithetical. The God who encourages their faith is the same God who

placed inside the skull of every human a brain weighing, on average, 3.3 pounds. I sometimes wonder if the people denying the need for protective measures against the virus really mean what they say. Do they simply seek showing the rest of us what great men and women of faith they are? 

Somebody out there, tell me what’s going on!         

Rob: All Work Makes … and that Business

When asked how I’m getting along, I invariably answer, “Fine,” or “Quite well, thank you.” My partner, Karyl, and I have

remained healthy and gotten through the days, stepping on each other’s toes only rarely. We’ve played the hand the virus dealt us. Pressed for details in phone conferences and e-mail

exchanges, I’ve confided that the lockdown the virus caused has been something of a blessing. I’ve used the last two and a half months of virtual isolation for intense work on the books I’m trying to finish, as well as my legal work.

I haven’t talked about the frustration I’ve suffered without my favorite relief valves for

the stress writing and law practice generate. Pushing through drafting and editing manuscripts and legal motions,  reading books and essays, and doing internet research, I’ve had no baseball games, golf tournaments, or

tennis matches for down time. I’ve substituted DVDs of old movies and TV shows, and they’ve helped a bit. ESPN’s ten-part documentary The Last Dance offered some relief.

As I’ve shared in this space before, I have dedicated myself to writing as a career

change. As I move out of law practice, though I remain committed to giving my clients the best service possible, I realize my future lies in writing novels and non-fiction books and essays about historical and current events. But, no matter how much we love something, most of us need a break from time to time. For me, the best break has been live or televised sports. I’ll really be glad when that’s back. I hope I’m not becoming that proverbial very dull boy.

Henry: Sadness and Hope

 

I write this watching and listening to the countdown for launch of NASA’s SpaceX Demo 2 mission. It’s the first launch of astronauts to the International Space Station using the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and the Falcon 9 rocket. While the spacecraft represents a technological advancement, the hope it creates for gaining knowledge and understanding about the universe offers much more than any direct benefit.                 

During the pandemic, I’ve spent my time enjoying the company of my wife and older son, reading, writing, watching television, listening to radio programs from fifty years past, participating in Zoom conferences with friends and family, and completing long-neglected projects. I

miss the personal contact with my other children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends. I have played golf twice but endured perhaps the longest period I’ve gone without tennis in forty years.

I am most saddened and frustrated by the

amount of suffering and loss of life I’ve seen. I’m particularly distressed we haven’t used all we have learned inhabiting this earth in minimizing that suffering and loss of life. This has not been our finest hour. We could have done so much better.

I mentioned the SpaceX launch because the

effort evidences mankind’s hope for pushing ourselves to the limits of achievement. Reaching for the stars is a hopeful endeavor. Perhaps finding a speck of knowledge through the mission will enhance our journey on this small pebble. I hope and pray for blessings to all and that our efforts are rewarded.

CHRISTMAS 2019: ITS MEANING FOR US

We wish our readers Happy Holidays. Thanks for being with us this year. Today, we offer thoughts on the season.

                  

Woodson:  Let’s Take the Pain Out of Christmas

Christmas is too commercial and, in many ways, painful. Commercializing Christmas has too often drowned out the story of Jesus.

                  

As a farm kid with few possessions, a belief in Santa Claus allowed me to engage in an

expectation fantasy. Hours were spent leading up to Christmas imagining what I would find under the Christmas tree. Invariably, I received a cap gun with holster, socks, and an assortment of fruits, nuts, and candies. Christmas after Christmas, I imagined myself receiving something really big, perhaps a pedal-driven car or a pony. 

On the Christmas after I turned eight, I received my assortment of fruits, nuts, and candy, but no toy. Someone told me Santa Claus was a fantasy, and my

parents had decided to no longer indulge this costly fantasy. I approached an older brother, hoping to be consoled but he responded, “Dang, man, you still believing that Santa Claus business?” I was crushed. That painful memory stays with me. Hope and I vowed never to lie to our children about a Santa Claus. But we would give gifts. Even that decision left us with the complication of having to decide who to give gifts to, which remains stressful for me. I don’t enjoy buying Christmas gifts. I think I’m contributing to the commercialization of Christmas and perverting the Christian faith. 

There have been times when Hope and I had to charge these expenses to our credit cards when short on cash. So, we spent money we didn’t have on things we didn’t need. 

            

Christmas should be a time to reflect solely on

Jesus’s birth and life and how his life informs our own. I feel like I am fighting a losing battle between Christianity, deceit, and commercialism. A great meal and great conversation on Christmas, without the gifts, would make Christmas what I’d like it to be.

Rob:  Let’s Stay Together

Debating the meaning of Christmas became a political flashpoint a few years ago. Conservatives, who see only a religious meaning

for Christmas, argued secularists were scrubbing Christmas from the public sphere or making it just about commerce. Some saw a “War on Christmas.” The

issue hasn’t flared up much this year as impeachment and the 2020 campaign consumed space in public discourse. So, in an atmosphere not brimming with angst over what the holiday means, I took a step back when contemplating its meaning for me.

I could focus on religion. I practice progressive

Signs of Religions

Christianity, so celebrating the birth of Jesus matters. However, I regard that practice as a year-round activity rooted in understanding and following the teachings of Jesus, not the miracles supposedly attendant to his birth and death. I respect the religious aspect of Christmas, but that’s not my focus.

In our family, and for me, Christmas means togetherness. I live in the same town with only one

of my children; the other four reside near or far, but in each case “away.” Since my wife’s death nine years ago, we’ve rotated where we gather. I now find the process of convening, of making whatever trip I must make so we are together, a valuable part of the exercise.

Christmas, therefore, means celebrating the fact we remain a family despite losing Ida, despite the trials and tribulations of children growing up, and despite my own struggles as I age and experience transitions. As the song says, Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year” because, for us, it’s when we’re together. At this stage, that’s what Christmas means for me.

                                 

                         Andy Williams' The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

                    

Henry: Christmas Everlasting
My memory pulls forth concentric spheres. The

inside, closed, perhaps restricted and protected sphere streams images of two brothers and their parents experiencing incredible joy and happiness waiting for the morning.  There were friends, church, family, gifts, food, speeches, and prayer for all, especially the “less fortunate.”  Acceptance and faith without doubt prevailed - for doubt springs from examination.

As those memories expand, the next sphere reveals a recognition of sadness and an awareness that all is not as well as it once seemed at an earlier time.  The protective shielding of the first sphere is no longer present. Poverty, fear, doubt, hopelessness, despair, hunger, and anger are present, invading the space between the first and second spheres.

As the first and second spheres merge, a third

sphere forms, enveloping all and expanding at light speed, speaking to my mind, soul, and spirit. Hope inspired by love required by my spiritual belief in redemption, forgiveness, and universal acceptance extinguishes all doubt for the moment and takes me to the innocence of the first sphere. Here, however, a more informed faith supporting hope pervades my world becoming our world. This last all-encompassing sphere contains all but has no limits. 

We are forgiven. “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37

Joy-PLEASE