In a recent article, I wrote about the meaning of being. It was the final exam for a class that I was teaching. The class was to ponder the Cosmic Calendar, which Carl Sagan made popular for those of us who aren’t into astrophysics.

Trump Vaccine

I wanted my class to think about their reason for being. The Cosmic Calendar reveals that we are living in the last 0.23 of a second of December 31st. It fascinated me to read their ideas. However, one of the benefits of my long journey down the yellow brick road of my life has been my two dances with death. Unless you have done the dance, you can’t truly grasp the difference that occurs in your mindset after successfully leading death on the dancefloor of your life. You have a radically new Weltanschauung. It is transformative.

On the other hand, your ideas about life and longevity are intellectual ones. You know that you won’t live forever, but it doesn’t change your lifestyle. Nevertheless, if you have done one or more dances, your knowledge that your clock is ticking moves from an intellectual truth to a feeling in your gut. Trust me. I don’t want to go through another subdural hematoma or prostate cancer that has metastasized outside the prostate, but I wouldn’t delete either near-death experiences from my life. I’m a different cat than I once was before either dance.

Additionally, I have learned that life is full of various unexpected setbacks. For example, a year ago, I was in Myanmar visiting my family. Everything was coming up roses for us as the saying goes. We went on a family tour and enjoyed nearly a month together.

My oldest granddaughter, Ti Ti, was soon to go off to college. We talked about where she might attend. I also enjoyed my time with her younger sisters, Snow and Fatty. Their parents, Moh Moh and Ko Ko, would talk about the future of their family. For me, it was the best time of my life. We went on a balloon ride over Bagan and took an elephant ride over what I call the Myanmar Alps. We had a New Year’s Eve celebration at our favorite restaurant near Inle Lake. It was the time of our lives.

I returned home after the first week of January to teach and to begin to plan for our next family tour. It will start in Yangon and then go to the Golden Rock, Myeik Archipelago, the Great Pagoda, etc. Talk about happy days of the past and for the future.

Ironically, the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed on January 20th, which is also my birthday. However, at that time, hardly anyone knew what was looming on the horizon. Then it hit. The happy times that my family and I thought would continue forever abruptly end. A year later, America has over 17 million confirmed cases and 310,000 deaths due to COVID-19. America makes up 4.25% of the world’s population and accounts for 20% of the confirmed cases and deaths. Had Trump acted when he should have, we wouldn’t lead the world in those statistics.

Click on this link. It will show you up to date data on COVID-19

https://www.covidexitstrategy.org/

In addition to COVID-19, we have a vindictive and narcissistic president who is so insecure that losing the election is an anathema for him. Trump makes Nixon almost appear angelic in comparison to him. Nixon’s IQ was high enough along with his emotional stability not to have temper tantrums at the end of his time as president.

I, along with most of the rest of thinking America, would have preferred Clinton over our OBBP, aka, Orange Baby Blimp President.

Orange Baby Blimp President

Aside from Trump’s behavior of acting like a two-year-old, he has been a racist for his entire life. Bob Woodward attempted to explain systematic racism to Trump, which didn’t work.

America is facing an onslaught of problems one of which is racism. Trump is a gross example of it. He not only hasn’t addressed COVID-19 for nearly a year, but he also contends that it will go away in the spring.

Additionally, people of color are more likely to suffer from the coronavirus than whites. The CDC outlined five major reasons for this: discrimination, lack of access to healthcare, occupations, gaps in education, income and wealth, and housing.

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported, “Black Americans are infected with COVID-19 at nearly three times the rate of white Americans, according to a new document from the National Urban League. The report, based on data from Johns Hopkins University, also shows black Americans are twice as likely to die from the virus.”

Does Trump care? He is rich and white.

Regarding the election, all the factual data shows that Trump lost. He claims that the election was fraudulently rigged due to the big cities. Actually, Trump lost all of the 25 largest cities except for one. What’s with the big cities? Racial diversity. The big cities aren’t all white.

Actually, Trump is more orange than white. Nonetheless, he claims that it due to the new light bulbs.

Trump lost the election. However, opportunity is knocking on the door of America. We started racism in 1619 when the first slaves were brought to our country. We fought the Civil War to end slavery. However, segregation and discrimination are seen in all aspects of our lives today.

Nevertheless, we have a golden opportunity to make America a place that we claim it is…a land of the free. Opportunity is knocking at the door.

Carpe Diem.