Moving Further Offshore, While Going Nowhere

I went for a walk yesterday, Sunday. It was my first walk of any real length in over two weeks.

There was nothing terribly surreal about the walk. Perhaps the amazingly beautiful Spring day clashed a bit harsh with the pandemic anywhere/everywhere. The streets were somewhat less emptier than usual and we tried to keep a safe distance from anyone else. That being said: if someone is on the sidewalk and you are on the street..and the street is empty...how about you move the hell over a few feet in the street!!!!!!!!!! This is an empty suburban street on a Sunday afternoon during a pandemic, NOT the 405 in LA at 5 pm!

What struck me was the fact that nature was just blooming. A cherry blossom tree was vibrant with white blooms. We all know that nature just keeps going regardless of what happens to us, but the interior dread bowed humbly before the Spring beauty around me. Nature and physics thankfully keep going keep going, regardless of desire.

It seems that today there has been a throw down of sorts with the virus. We have been told that the next two weeks are going to be hell here in New Jersey and to brace ourselves. That being said, I just got word that a friend's brother is in ICU with renal and liver failure, with a 50/50 shot at making it out. He is somewhere around my own age. I think that is what is going to happen as the weeks progress, more and more people are going to get it and that, obviously, will bring it all the more home to people. Let me explain a bit more.

This whole thing is making everyone with a brain, fear for their life. That's why you stay inside. That's why the strip club is closed. That's why there is no sporting events. The presence of illness and mortality are known, but they are not being fully embraced. And I am not saying they should as that can lead to a serious depression and only used when needed. Being near NYC, we feel the tremors a bit harder than, say, the middle of the nation where this thing has barely gotten, relative to the East Coast. All I can say is this: it is impossible to get any local supermarket or delivery system to bring you groceries for the next week. Zero. All spaces filled. If there is a pulse for what the pandemic is doing to the fears of those here, perhaps that is a decent indication.

There was also news that NYC has decided to have its crematoriums going 24/7 to deal with the dead. This threw me a bit as, in The Plague, that was the last effort they could do when there was no space. Also like in the novel, funeral services have been warped into a closed coffin, with few people there. One main difference between the book and now is that, well, the services are streamed for others to see.

Unlike in the book, Church services have been suspended for EVERYONE. The rules set down by man as seemingly unbreakable in terms of what is allowed have broken down. I guess everyone is going to have to come to terms with the theological concept that God is infinite and the rules are not made of concrete, but water.

I am going to go out for a walk later around sunset. It should be nice as the weather is stunningly perfect. I am sure it will be beautiful as I see it from this more distanced place from the shores of our old life.