STRANGE BEHAVIORS
Open letter to whom it may concern . . . . .
if you receive any reports I was seen behaving rather strangely last
Friday afternoon, I just want you to know . . . . . I have not slipped a mental cog . . . . .
-yes, that woman sitting in a lawn chair at the end
of the sidewalk outside her dentist’s office next to a small American flag planted in the ground was
me . . . . .
-yes, I was overlooking
Route 66 with the boulevard’s usual busy
auto trafficin all lanes . . . . .
-yes, I did attract a few curious gazes from passersby and
the young boy skateboarding on the sidewalk . . . . .
-yes, I did sit there for ten or fifteen minutes before
seeing a vehicle with a sign across the front that said, “Convoy Follows” . . .
. .
-yes, there was a jeep-like vehicle behind it, but I didn't notice any other military vehicles, plus I wasn’t
sure if the other ordinary cars and SUVs were part of the convoy or just the usual
traffic . . . . .
-yes, I waited ten minutes or so more but saw no more
recognizable military vehicles . . . . .
-yes, I finally gathered my belongings into my car’s trunk,
then parked overlooking the boulevard just in case more vehicles should come .
. . . .
-yes, I waited about ten minutes longer, then as I was about to
leave a large military troop carrier type truck and a couple or so more
jeep-type vehicles passed by quickly . .
. . .
-yes, I noticed on the back of one of those vehicles a sign
that said, “Convoy Ahead” alerting me to
the fact the Convoy had come and gone . . . . .
-yes, I felt kinda foolish that the military vehicle convoy I
had expected to see apparently was much more disconnected and shorter than I expected . . . . .
-yes, I understood now why the local newspaper office and
police department when I phoned them several hours earlier knew nothing about a convoy coming through
our town as this turned out to be pretty
much traffic as usual . . . . .
-yes, I felt rather silly to have contacted our newspaper and local police asking for the convoy schedule here, plus I had even gone to the trouble earlier to phone the
convoy group’s national office to find out when they would be coming through
our town . . . . .
-yes, I was encouraged about seeing the convoy when the phone
person spoke enthusiastically about all the vehicles she had seen when they had
been in her Midwestern town . . . . .
-yes, when she gave me the convoy leader’s phone number I
even called and received a courteous call back giving me an accurately close approximation
of when the vehicles would pass through our city. . . . .
-yes, I did plan to take a photo or video to share here, but the
convoy was so short, came and went so disjointed and fast, I have nothing to
share except this tale of unrealized expectations.
Refer to “Route 66 Convoy” segment in my previous post for specifics about MVPA if unfamiliar.
I am left to share with you one of my favorite versions of the following tune.
“This exclusive
performance by The Manhattan Transfer of "Route 66", one of their
classic signature tunes.”
EXPECTATIONS
We have so many expectations in life – of ourselves and of
others -- as I did of the Convoy above. What is reasonable and
realistic? I think of this in relation
to all the needs that are arising in view of the disasters sweeping our nation –
the current destructive life-taking fires raging in Northern California, our
own fires here in Southern California, the hurricanes winds and flooding waters
affecting so many U.S. citizens and others elsewhere, as well as those
victimized by gun violence. Certainly the expectation for our good health is ranked high on our list, too, but when disease, accident, illness intrude, our lives are drastically affected, but that's a whole topic unto itself.
Seems we’re hearing increasing news accounts of older people
being especially adversely affected in these disasters. I think of the Florida nursing home where
residents should have been evacuated to a nearby hospital when their facility
was flooded. There have been numerous
reports of Puerto Rico older residents in dire need of food, water, medicine
and other health care long after the hurricane has passed, not to mention the continuing needs
of all other ages. Reports are still
emerging from Northern California fires for unaccounted lives -- but some known
older folks, who were unable to evacuate quickly enough to survive, have been
identified. What were their expectations?
The reality is, we may need to reassess our expectations of ourselves and others. Whether or not we like it, most older people
are not going to be as agile, fast, or as able to avoid dangerous
situations. Those with mobility limitations, in addition to being older, are
going to be slowed whatever their age, wherever they are, whether they are
subjected to a sudden disastrous occurrence, or even if they have warning. We’re
all wise to think about our situation now, or well in advance whenever -- in terms of our own personal status --
our physical condition, where we live, to plan in advance accordingly. We may need to “leave”, not “stay”, or act early -- long before others.
Often we’re given recommendations about creating an
environment inside our residences that will maximize our safety, or to move to
a one floor plan setting, to eliminate steps, avoid ladders indoors and
outdoors. There is more we need to do.
We need to inquire in each of our communities about what
systems are in place to provide us advance evacuation or shelter-seeking
warnings, if we live in a fire, flood, hurricane/tornado high winds area. Those
of us living in earthquake prone areas are looking forward to a possible
warning system in California, but that’s a few years away, if at all, though
Japan has had an effective one for several years.
We all will want to familiarize ourselves with what provisions
have been made by our community to come to our aid before the storm, if expected, and
after the disaster. Older couples need this information, but older single
people certainly do, too, and especially those who may not have family or friends
nearby to be checking on their welfare. Others may need to be occupied looking out for themselves. Certainly we would hope all of us would be looking out for each other -- that would be our expectation.
ORDERS-AIR-RUSSIA
Expectations for most Americans, other than the most wealthy,
are not very promising based on this current Prez‘s continued betraying actions of the voting majority. Undermining the solvency of the Affordable
Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) is systematically being done by Executive Order. What
we will have now is basically Trump Care, as any resolution is left to his Congressional
political party whose solutions to date have been untenable with either party.
This administration also continues to dash
the expectations of citizens for safety -- environmentally -- as efforts to provide
clean air -- the very breath of life -- are undermined by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) regulations reductions. One such, results in increasing polluting coal
burning (in an already fading industry whose decline has been due to a growing independent evolution to cleaner energy
sources).
Revelations of Russian propaganda efforts to interfere in our past election continue which demonstrates their government's lack of honorable values. This dishonest ethical failure leaves me with an expectation that, regrettably, Russia's government will continue to be untrustworthy.
