My feet were trapped in the inner tube. Usually not a problem; however, it is more complicated when you are three and upside down with no one in the pool. The pool was empty for just a few minutes as everyone else stood on the cement looking the other way. I saw the side of the pool. I knew enough to try to swim there, but the inner tube that was wrapped around my little body had flipped. Now it was the possible weapon of my death.
This time we are living in often feels the same as that time I struggled beneath the water, looking for help and a way out. The side of the pool seemed so far away and unreachable. Covid, global warming, a country in distress, fear at every turn. Yep, you feel it, too. We all do. I wake to find it still here and go to sleep, hoping I can put my worries away for a while. Regardless of where we stand on issues, we are all in this together.
As my family and friends will tell you, I am opinionated and very verbal about issues close to my heart or those that can hurt my family and world. My Christian friends are a disappointment, because for some reason we seem to be loving different Gods. They post scripture and I post 'wake up' messages. I stand up for truth while they seem to embrace lies. I know I am not alone in this predicament. The line has been drawn. The respect we had for one another is stretched to the lengths of snapping. And, in some cases, it has. We are not only a country torn apart. We are a people torn apart.
My grandchildren are distance learning and doing well. I see their ability to adjust as something the rest of us have taken a long time to achieve. Living in a time when parents worked and their children went to childcare, we now have parents working from home and babysitting at the same time. Teens who wanted distance from their parents are constantly with them. Wow! Who would have ever believed that we could be in such a time? But, oops, look what is happening! Bonds are being made, new ways to live life and parents getting to know their children in new ways. Yet I worry about the children in broken, violent homes. How are those children existing in that toxicity?
What are we learning about education and the care of the children? Perhaps we are finding that our old system needed to be updated. We have so many new schools here in Oregon. Huge schools that are built to accommodate the forecasted growth rate. These schools are outdated by the time they are built as apartments and homes take over established communities. It is time for us to re-evaluate an old system. Perhaps develop a new more economical way of educating our younguns' will grow out of this chaos.
As to that little girl in the inner tube, her father grabbed her feet and pulled her from the pool. He immediately began pumping the water from her soggy lungs. She coughed and cried and never learned to swim. Today I feel much the same with our world spinning out of control.
So what are the answers to questions we are just asking since March 2020? You and I are the answers. We are the ones who need to take charge of our lives and protect our children and communities. We need to use our voices and share our feelings with others. We need to lift up our children and give them even more support and love. We need to support one another regardless of religious belief, regardless of color, regardless of sexual orientation. We need to recognize that our environment is crying for our help. We need to VOTE. VOTING is the change. You are the change.
