Distance Doesn’t Diminish

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 (Seven days before the full rising of April’s Pink Moon)

While my brain tried to find something about which to write today, ideas rose but not interesting and motivating There were scatters of doings here at home that feel like big deals but wouldn’t sail in my mind’s breezes. Something illusive was preventing my charging forth with an idea.

That changed after I began seeing in today’s leading newspapers articles about the Chauvin trial, and its possible aftermath. Today, Minneapolis is poised for riots. An increasing majority is gathering around the courthouse, most believing Chauvin guilty of murder. They’re insisting and praying for justice in a guilty verdict.

It struck me that I, too, am worrying about that jury’s decision. A surprise, here in my home a couple thousand miles from Minneapolis and its street-threating massive rebellion. I’ve witnessed on television some of the trial, and yesterday’s closing arguments by the attorneys.

I’m aware of storing such information in a brain chamber, to await an official verdict. After that, I’d mix and match my impressions to the real outcome.

Or so, I assume, that’s me, how I feel and what I’ll do.

This morning, I recognize that I’m really very involved, have an opinion, and now see that that for years everybody’s been building toward the outcomes that may follow this jury decision. It’s been accumulating over time, “it’s all got to us”: gun violence, Black Lives Matter, police brutality, #metoo.

In this year’s brief beginning, we’ve witnessed random mass killings, one after another. The Chauvin trial is tapping an iceberg that tops the illnesses among huge populations. Social pressures have outstripped the once-commonly accepted social norms that for long managed to manage most of us.

Recently I’ve become more aware of America’s history, parts that school didn’t teach. The Constitution built on ideology and promises couldn’t have predicted great explosions of population and wealth that have altered national and world balances.

Today beyond our borders, Russia is ramped up and poised to attack Ukraine. North Korea is doing who knows what, and preparing to do who knows what. And here in the United States, we’ll likely witness pro and con outcries on Minneapolis’s streets, regardless of the jury’s verdict.

All that’s on my mind. Much reaches far away and gathers input from Minneapolis and Ukraine. Much is local, too, for nearby Portland is experiencing street riots and they’re increasing.

All this means that regardless of what that Minneapolis jury decides, the unrest will continue. What to do about policing? About wealth distribution? About economies after a year of shutdown. About Ukraine and North Korea?

Dear Friends: An awakening, to recognize how greatly world issues may affect personal anxieties. Diana