The exodus of senators of the old establishment is manna from heaven for would-be replacements.”
“Roy Blunt—a man with a name out of heartland central casting, seemingly tailor-made for senatorial glory—will not run again for the upper chamber, a place he spent the better part of a lifetime trying to reach, the Missourian announced on Monday.
The senior senator from “the Mother of the West” joins a coterie of Republican establishment grandees from the Rust Belt who took a look at 2022, and looked away. The exits of Blunt, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, and Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania leave Minority Leader Mitch McConnell further isolated, following the close, but politically calamitous forfeiture of the Senate in January.
These fresh departures portend high-wattage duels in three states critical to the coalitions of both former President Barack Obama and former President Donald Trump. As recently as 2008, Missouri, like Indiana (!), almost went blue. By 2016, Ohio, Missouri and Pennsylvania were all in the Trump column. These are medium-large states which in recent years have oscillated between sending to Washington stalwart Democrats, such as Claire McCaskill and Sherrod Brown, and rock-ribbed Republicans, like Josh Hawley.
The conventional view on this development is that it’s straight-up bad omens all around for the Republicans, a party riding out a rolling identity crisis over the future of Trump. It’s standard fare for incumbents to lose and lose big in the midterm elections, and no one knows this better than President Joe Biden, who served as principal lieutenant to Obama in 2010 and was in his third decade of senatorial service when President Bill Clinton was walloped in 1994. But Democrats and their allies are feeling hopeful they can buck the trend. Biden is and will be the beneficiary of potentially considerable headwinds: He experiences personal approval far in excess of his own party; the U.S. vaccine rollout is uneven right now but in process; and his lo-fi approach in the White House is, for many Americans, a welcome change in tone.
But from California, to the Midwest, to Virginia, a budding new generation of Republicans see things much differently, buoyed by Trump’s stunning, record performance with minorities in 2020, despite (or because of?) restrictive immigration policies, and despite a presidential term marred by ubiquitous accusations of racism. Because despite a once-in-a-century pandemic, despite his rowdy approach, he almost pulled it off. While Trump plainly embarrassed himself with a vainglorious, disorganized attempt to reverse the election results, and then played his part in embroiling the nation in additional tragedy, moving forward, President Biden may be popular but the Democrats are not. And it is the Democrats on the ballot in 2021 and 2022, starting with the possible gubernatorial recall election in the Golden State (California deadline is next week) and, for Republicans, the tantalizing prospect of recapturing the governor’s mansion in Virginia.
One gubernatorial candidate claimed to me that he believes that despite it all by fall and into next year the fallout from school closures, inner-city violence, a politicized vaccine rollout, and even a possible stock market correction or collapse, owing to inflation and asymmetric attacks on the system, could help hand the keys back to the Republicans. If so, many of the would-be replacements are offering different medicine than their predecessors, a fact put firmly on display in the recent minimum wage debates in Congress and the intellectual chatter on the right about family policy, where more conservatives are convinced the state should provide a helping hand.
In Pennsylvania, Trumpist apparatchiks are trying to police the lanes on associational grounds, with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon proclaiming to Politico that any successor must be “full Trump MAGA.” But though Trump is ramping up his endorsement game, as a tool of tradecraft to stay atop the party, that’s not the only valence of this political game. It’s clear that J.D. Vance in Ohio, for instance, while he would without question accept the former president’s endorsement, would unveil a brand of populism unto himself, just as Hawley has.
And in Missouri, Blunt’s successor is unlikely to be in the man’s mold.”
“California ‘Ethnic Studies Curriculum’ Proposal Gets Worse, Heavy On Critical Race Theory and Anti-Israel Activism
Parents group: “Draft 4 shows a clear endorsement of the Critical ES victim/oppressor paradigm”
“The saga continues: California’s Department of Education has released yet another iteration of its neo-Marxist-inspired, Critical Theory-based Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum for public schools. Even after five years of work (and who knows how much money) the latest (fourth!) version of the ESMC—to be voted on next week—has managed, somehow, to be worse than the last.
Last month, we detailed a litany of historical and epistemological problems with the neo-Marxist-inspired California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) in our post, California Proposed Ethnic Studies Curriculum A Subterfuge For Anti-American And Anti-Zionist Activism.
As we reported:
The [first two] drafts of the ESMC were, in the words of the Los Angeles Times,
an impenetrable melange of academic jargon and politically correct pronouncements. It’s hard to wade through all the references to hxrstory and womxn and misogynoir and cisheteropatriarchy.
…This curriculum feels like it is more about imposing predigested political views on students than about widening their perspectives.
In fact, as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal summarized:
Excluded from California’s model curriculum are the white ethnic groups (Italians, Irish, Poles and so forth) studied fruitfully by scholars such as Nathan Glazer, Daniel P. Moynihan and Michael Novak. Also largely excluded are groups like Jews and Armenians who were persecuted abroad and sought refuge in America. The groups that dominate the curriculum are African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and American Indians.
Perhaps worse, the first draft included fawning endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel (and only Israel), and echoed classic anti-Jewish stereotypes in its discussions of Zionism and the Jewish state.
At the root of the ESMC’s flaws is its foundation in neo-Marxist Critical Theory—which, as Bret Stephens recently pointed out, is “not multiculturalism. It is not a way of exploring, much less celebrating, America’s pluralistic society. It is an assault on it…It is less an academic discipline than it is the recruiting arm of a radical ideological movement masquerading as mainstream pedagogy.””
The journalist who stepped up to demand I and others be censored by Substack — because our critiques of corporate journalists constitute "harassment" — is a disgraced Buzzfeed writer fired for plagiarism.
But it was applauded by other journalists, professors & a Google exec.
All former Buzzfeed plagiarist dude can ultimately do is complain, and maybe rally a few tech bro journos to his side with approving nods. When higher ups at google are weighing in, on their public timelines, you can bet it's happening at a greater scale in meeting rooms.
This is the real political battle that has taken center stage:
Will a small cadre of corporate media outlets and their employees control the flow of information and the internet, or is free thought, a free press and meaningful dissent still possible?https://t.co/9UuceYD2Xj
I didn’t watch Biden last night…honestly I didn’t know that was going to be a thing. I decided to read the text of the speech and my blood boils just reading what was said. This part caught my attention:
Fourth, in the coming weeks, we will issue further guidance on what you can and cannot do once fully vaccinated, to lessen the confusion, to keep people safe and encourage more people to get vaccinated
So “he” is going to let “us” know what we can and cannot do? If that doesn’t send chills up one’s spine I don’t know what will…will “the we the people” ever wake up to what is happening to our nation under this regime? God help us…. 😢 and yeah…not getting the vaccine…..
With regard to what people can do when they’re vaccinated, Dr. Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, simplified it — wait 2 months then go back to doing everything you used to do.
For “unification” purposes perhaps the speech writers should have rephrased that “what you can and cannot do”. Maybe a “our recommendations” would have come across less heavy handed. He slams the last administration with total disregard as to just who set the vaccine solution into motion. This is the most stiff necked, dictatorial administration in history. And it isn’t Biden coming up with the “mandates”. One day the truth will come out…and the left will still put their spin on it… 😢
But Dems have made it so already with their stupid, politicized rules. Only a fool would think that aspect is not still in play for Dems. They’re power hungry, and this is useful to them for that reason.
As Biden said, they’ll tell us what we can and can’t do and when. He was quite clear.
Every press reaction has been nothing but journalistic fawning about empathy and compassion. I’ve yet to see a mainstream reporter say, “Hey, wait a minute. The federal government has exactly zero say over whether we spend time with family.” Its pathetic. https://t.co/vXxqDoMyt6
Joe Biden literally has not done anything. He is coasting on Trump’s vaccine and frankly has made a slew of bad policy decisions that have costs tens of thousands of American jobs and raised gas prices for all of us. Nobody elected him for this. https://t.co/6YfqF5n4xN
I’d say that everyone who wants a vaccine will have one within the next 2-3 months. So barring an unexpected resurgence of this (mutated) or another bug that’s vaccine-resistant, life should be pretty much back to normal before the 4th of July.
Normal . . .we shall see. I truly don’t know what that word means any more. Things will never go back to what they were. Education is forever changed for one big thing. Healthcare is changed. Priorities have changed. So much is different.
The Dispatch daily newsletter had this to say about Biden’s timelines (and notice that it gives credit to Trump):
“Underpromising and overdelivering has been Biden’s modus operandi on coronavirus messaging since he assumed office in January. After initially pledging to administer 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days—a goal the country was already on pace to meet by the end of the Trump presidency—Biden boasted yesterday we’ll hit that mark around his 60th day.
So when Biden said vaccine eligibility will open up by May 1—and that he hopes small groups “will be able to” gather for outdoor cookouts on Independence Day—know that that timeline is a relatively unambitious baseline, and likely to be exceeded. Alaska, for example, removed all vaccine eligibility requirements earlier this week, and Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said Florida will likely do the same soon.”
DJ – Perhaps the vaccine will be available to all within two or three months, but I don’t know that that would mean that everyone who wants it will have been able to get it by then. Since my age group recently became eligible for it, I tried to make an appointment with two or three organizations, but could not find an available opening. And that is even with Connecticut being considered as doing well with rolling out the vaccine.
It takes a while to get the appointments, for sure. I had to sit on the county website, going back and forth several times with no luck, for several days. When some available appointments finally popped up, it took me a few minutes to believe what I was seeing. Most here seem to have had that same experience, it takes tenacity and I feel for folks who aren’t internet savvy. One reader emailed me saying she was having trouble, so I gave her the Kaiser # (at that time you could call in, but it was for 75+ — which I’d rightly guessed she was).
A couple weeks later she wrote back saying call-in process worked for her.
Once I had the appointments in had, it was very quick, efficient and easy. Finding and making the appointment is the hardest part.
Janice, you’re right, some changes will be permanent, though they’re not necessarily bad things — but this pandemic really will leave a mark on us as a society and individuals.
Just curious as to what changes would seem to you as not bad things Dj? I sit here taking inventory over the changes that have happened and fall short as to anything that could be positive with this mess?
Brought to mind the time when a newly-elected LA city mayor was making the hand-shaking rounds at one of our local parks. I went up to him asking for an impromptu interview, but as I started walking with him he threw his arm over my shoulder, like a boyfriend, while I struggled to take notes, feeling very uncomfortable. As this writer in the link above says, it’s not really about sex, it’s about power.
There are things that come along every now and then that change our collective “normal”. The attacks of 9/11 caused certain changes in some areas that we may not even think of anymore. The many school shootings have changed the way most schools allow (or don’t) people into the school. I’m sure there are other examples. “Normal” seems to be a concept that shifts a bit every now and then.
Nancyjill, Ok, working from home! No commutes for many of us. The efficiency of doing many things electronically (though there’s a downside as well, in growing apart from interacting face to face with people and co-workers).
And I’d have to say perhaps a bit of humility. To have gone through this period in which a virus wreaked so much havoc in what seems like a mostly controllable world to us modern men and women was jarring. For Christians, we also understand that God is sovereign in all that comes to pass, so there was a divine purpose (or purposes) to it all. How would we handle it, how would it change us inwardly and spiritually? For good? Or not? Would it bring us closer to God?
I wish I could answer more positively to many of those last questions. Too often I was impatient and frustrated by it all, murmuring to God and others rather than seeking to realize, even though it was slapping me in the face, Who was in charge, after all.
Dj I can see how working from home and avoiding a commute could be a good thing for many. Although with daughter having started her job remotely she has never been inside her office building nor has she ever met her coworkers in person. She has become reclusive and she longs for the day when she can get into the office and work in person with the team….plus her commute would be short…downhill all the way to the end of the hwy and take a left 😊
I think the turmoil of the virus happening during the election mess has made this past year more stressful. At times I feel as though my head would explode at the responses of some concerning what is going on. But yes, our Lord has not turned a blind eye to any of this and I am continually challenged in my fleshly responses at times.
I forgot, sweats and sneakers. Everyday some weeks.
And apparently some introverts rather enjoy the mask thing. No pressure or even recognition out in public.
Actually, too, some churches by going virtual have had a rather impressive outreach, touching folks far and wide outside of their geographical locations.
I remember back in probably January 2020 when Carol expressed concern to me about this new virus that was cropping up in China.
I said, “Ah, nothing to worry about over here.”
It can’t really touch us here in the west, right?
Just ruminating here, but the one thought that keeps coming back to me is that God is surely doing something with all of this. What, I don’t really know. Judgement? A test? A wakeup call to the church? A reminder that He is God? Of our complete dependence and ultimate weakness, our limits? No clue, but …
“Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” — Job 2:10
I could have handled a lot of it better than I have. My spirit flagged as time went on.
Yet I was one of those who managed to keep working, thankfully, so it impacted me far less than many other people.
What’s clear is that none of it has been easy — or pleasant for anyone. People have suffered and died, many of us know at least a few personally. The isolation, especially for our older, more frail people, has been a trial for sure. Because of the newness and unknown nature of the virus, it was hard to know how to respond, even for public health officials. Overkill or being too lax, we’ve seen both responses — and let’s hope there are some clear lessons and direction coming out of all this when there’s more data and time to dispassionately review what worked and what didn’t.
Wandering Views 
Good riddance, and bye-bye…. 🙂
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-fall-of-the-republican-old-guard/
“The Fall Of The Republican Old Guard
The exodus of senators of the old establishment is manna from heaven for would-be replacements.”
“Roy Blunt—a man with a name out of heartland central casting, seemingly tailor-made for senatorial glory—will not run again for the upper chamber, a place he spent the better part of a lifetime trying to reach, the Missourian announced on Monday.
The senior senator from “the Mother of the West” joins a coterie of Republican establishment grandees from the Rust Belt who took a look at 2022, and looked away. The exits of Blunt, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, and Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania leave Minority Leader Mitch McConnell further isolated, following the close, but politically calamitous forfeiture of the Senate in January.
These fresh departures portend high-wattage duels in three states critical to the coalitions of both former President Barack Obama and former President Donald Trump. As recently as 2008, Missouri, like Indiana (!), almost went blue. By 2016, Ohio, Missouri and Pennsylvania were all in the Trump column. These are medium-large states which in recent years have oscillated between sending to Washington stalwart Democrats, such as Claire McCaskill and Sherrod Brown, and rock-ribbed Republicans, like Josh Hawley.
The conventional view on this development is that it’s straight-up bad omens all around for the Republicans, a party riding out a rolling identity crisis over the future of Trump. It’s standard fare for incumbents to lose and lose big in the midterm elections, and no one knows this better than President Joe Biden, who served as principal lieutenant to Obama in 2010 and was in his third decade of senatorial service when President Bill Clinton was walloped in 1994. But Democrats and their allies are feeling hopeful they can buck the trend. Biden is and will be the beneficiary of potentially considerable headwinds: He experiences personal approval far in excess of his own party; the U.S. vaccine rollout is uneven right now but in process; and his lo-fi approach in the White House is, for many Americans, a welcome change in tone.
But from California, to the Midwest, to Virginia, a budding new generation of Republicans see things much differently, buoyed by Trump’s stunning, record performance with minorities in 2020, despite (or because of?) restrictive immigration policies, and despite a presidential term marred by ubiquitous accusations of racism. Because despite a once-in-a-century pandemic, despite his rowdy approach, he almost pulled it off. While Trump plainly embarrassed himself with a vainglorious, disorganized attempt to reverse the election results, and then played his part in embroiling the nation in additional tragedy, moving forward, President Biden may be popular but the Democrats are not. And it is the Democrats on the ballot in 2021 and 2022, starting with the possible gubernatorial recall election in the Golden State (California deadline is next week) and, for Republicans, the tantalizing prospect of recapturing the governor’s mansion in Virginia.
One gubernatorial candidate claimed to me that he believes that despite it all by fall and into next year the fallout from school closures, inner-city violence, a politicized vaccine rollout, and even a possible stock market correction or collapse, owing to inflation and asymmetric attacks on the system, could help hand the keys back to the Republicans. If so, many of the would-be replacements are offering different medicine than their predecessors, a fact put firmly on display in the recent minimum wage debates in Congress and the intellectual chatter on the right about family policy, where more conservatives are convinced the state should provide a helping hand.
In Pennsylvania, Trumpist apparatchiks are trying to police the lanes on associational grounds, with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon proclaiming to Politico that any successor must be “full Trump MAGA.” But though Trump is ramping up his endorsement game, as a tool of tradecraft to stay atop the party, that’s not the only valence of this political game. It’s clear that J.D. Vance in Ohio, for instance, while he would without question accept the former president’s endorsement, would unveil a brand of populism unto himself, just as Hawley has.
And in Missouri, Blunt’s successor is unlikely to be in the man’s mold.”
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“VIDEO – How Critical Race Training is Harming K-12”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/03/video-how-critical-race-training-is-harming-k-12/
““What is going on in education right now is not normal. It’s ‘anti-education’.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cali, of course, has gone all in on CRT.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/03/california-ethnic-studies-curriculum-proposal-gets-worse-heavy-on-critical-race-theory-and-anti-israel-activism/
“California ‘Ethnic Studies Curriculum’ Proposal Gets Worse, Heavy On Critical Race Theory and Anti-Israel Activism
Parents group: “Draft 4 shows a clear endorsement of the Critical ES victim/oppressor paradigm”
“The saga continues: California’s Department of Education has released yet another iteration of its neo-Marxist-inspired, Critical Theory-based Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum for public schools. Even after five years of work (and who knows how much money) the latest (fourth!) version of the ESMC—to be voted on next week—has managed, somehow, to be worse than the last.
Last month, we detailed a litany of historical and epistemological problems with the neo-Marxist-inspired California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) in our post, California Proposed Ethnic Studies Curriculum A Subterfuge For Anti-American And Anti-Zionist Activism.
As we reported:
The [first two] drafts of the ESMC were, in the words of the Los Angeles Times,
an impenetrable melange of academic jargon and politically correct pronouncements. It’s hard to wade through all the references to hxrstory and womxn and misogynoir and cisheteropatriarchy.
…This curriculum feels like it is more about imposing predigested political views on students than about widening their perspectives.
In fact, as an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal summarized:
Excluded from California’s model curriculum are the white ethnic groups (Italians, Irish, Poles and so forth) studied fruitfully by scholars such as Nathan Glazer, Daniel P. Moynihan and Michael Novak. Also largely excluded are groups like Jews and Armenians who were persecuted abroad and sought refuge in America. The groups that dominate the curriculum are African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and American Indians.
Perhaps worse, the first draft included fawning endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel (and only Israel), and echoed classic anti-Jewish stereotypes in its discussions of Zionism and the Jewish state.
At the root of the ESMC’s flaws is its foundation in neo-Marxist Critical Theory—which, as Bret Stephens recently pointed out, is “not multiculturalism. It is not a way of exploring, much less celebrating, America’s pluralistic society. It is an assault on it…It is less an academic discipline than it is the recruiting arm of a radical ideological movement masquerading as mainstream pedagogy.””
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Journolist lives!
———
———
———
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t watch Biden last night…honestly I didn’t know that was going to be a thing. I decided to read the text of the speech and my blood boils just reading what was said. This part caught my attention:
Fourth, in the coming weeks, we will issue further guidance on what you can and cannot do once fully vaccinated, to lessen the confusion, to keep people safe and encourage more people to get vaccinated
So “he” is going to let “us” know what we can and cannot do? If that doesn’t send chills up one’s spine I don’t know what will…will “the we the people” ever wake up to what is happening to our nation under this regime? God help us…. 😢 and yeah…not getting the vaccine…..
LikeLiked by 2 people
I watched his speech. Too bad all those ‘fact checkers’ seem to have retired.
LikeLiked by 3 people
With regard to what people can do when they’re vaccinated, Dr. Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, simplified it — wait 2 months then go back to doing everything you used to do.
It’s not (or shouldn’t be) complicated.
LikeLiked by 2 people
For “unification” purposes perhaps the speech writers should have rephrased that “what you can and cannot do”. Maybe a “our recommendations” would have come across less heavy handed. He slams the last administration with total disregard as to just who set the vaccine solution into motion. This is the most stiff necked, dictatorial administration in history. And it isn’t Biden coming up with the “mandates”. One day the truth will come out…and the left will still put their spin on it… 😢
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, it shouldn’t be complicated.
But Dems have made it so already with their stupid, politicized rules. Only a fool would think that aspect is not still in play for Dems. They’re power hungry, and this is useful to them for that reason.
As Biden said, they’ll tell us what we can and can’t do and when. He was quite clear.
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But he forgot to thank Trump for it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like I said….
——–
Hey DJ,
This doesn’t sound at all like wait 2 months and return to normal, now does it?
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Yep.
———
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I had to laugh out loud last night at his grand promise of our coming 4th of July celebrations (!) — but then adding, in “small groups”
You have to either laugh or cry at almost everything nowadays
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’d say that everyone who wants a vaccine will have one within the next 2-3 months. So barring an unexpected resurgence of this (mutated) or another bug that’s vaccine-resistant, life should be pretty much back to normal before the 4th of July.
God willing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Normal . . .we shall see. I truly don’t know what that word means any more. Things will never go back to what they were. Education is forever changed for one big thing. Healthcare is changed. Priorities have changed. So much is different.
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The Dispatch daily newsletter had this to say about Biden’s timelines (and notice that it gives credit to Trump):
“Underpromising and overdelivering has been Biden’s modus operandi on coronavirus messaging since he assumed office in January. After initially pledging to administer 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days—a goal the country was already on pace to meet by the end of the Trump presidency—Biden boasted yesterday we’ll hit that mark around his 60th day.
So when Biden said vaccine eligibility will open up by May 1—and that he hopes small groups “will be able to” gather for outdoor cookouts on Independence Day—know that that timeline is a relatively unambitious baseline, and likely to be exceeded. Alaska, for example, removed all vaccine eligibility requirements earlier this week, and Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said Florida will likely do the same soon.”
DJ – Perhaps the vaccine will be available to all within two or three months, but I don’t know that that would mean that everyone who wants it will have been able to get it by then. Since my age group recently became eligible for it, I tried to make an appointment with two or three organizations, but could not find an available opening. And that is even with Connecticut being considered as doing well with rolling out the vaccine.
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It takes a while to get the appointments, for sure. I had to sit on the county website, going back and forth several times with no luck, for several days. When some available appointments finally popped up, it took me a few minutes to believe what I was seeing. Most here seem to have had that same experience, it takes tenacity and I feel for folks who aren’t internet savvy. One reader emailed me saying she was having trouble, so I gave her the Kaiser # (at that time you could call in, but it was for 75+ — which I’d rightly guessed she was).
A couple weeks later she wrote back saying call-in process worked for her.
Once I had the appointments in had, it was very quick, efficient and easy. Finding and making the appointment is the hardest part.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Janice, you’re right, some changes will be permanent, though they’re not necessarily bad things — but this pandemic really will leave a mark on us as a society and individuals.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you’re right. I just saw a news report that our Gov. Lamont has “accepted the challenge” to vaccinate all adults by May.
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Just curious as to what changes would seem to you as not bad things Dj? I sit here taking inventory over the changes that have happened and fall short as to anything that could be positive with this mess?
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Interesting and not unfamiliar tale from this female journalist regarding covering the NY governor
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/andrew-cuomo-sexual-harassment-albany-reporter.html
Brought to mind the time when a newly-elected LA city mayor was making the hand-shaking rounds at one of our local parks. I went up to him asking for an impromptu interview, but as I started walking with him he threw his arm over my shoulder, like a boyfriend, while I struggled to take notes, feeling very uncomfortable. As this writer in the link above says, it’s not really about sex, it’s about power.
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There are things that come along every now and then that change our collective “normal”. The attacks of 9/11 caused certain changes in some areas that we may not even think of anymore. The many school shootings have changed the way most schools allow (or don’t) people into the school. I’m sure there are other examples. “Normal” seems to be a concept that shifts a bit every now and then.
LikeLike
Nancyjill, Ok, working from home! No commutes for many of us. The efficiency of doing many things electronically (though there’s a downside as well, in growing apart from interacting face to face with people and co-workers).
And I’d have to say perhaps a bit of humility. To have gone through this period in which a virus wreaked so much havoc in what seems like a mostly controllable world to us modern men and women was jarring. For Christians, we also understand that God is sovereign in all that comes to pass, so there was a divine purpose (or purposes) to it all. How would we handle it, how would it change us inwardly and spiritually? For good? Or not? Would it bring us closer to God?
I wish I could answer more positively to many of those last questions. Too often I was impatient and frustrated by it all, murmuring to God and others rather than seeking to realize, even though it was slapping me in the face, Who was in charge, after all.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Dj I can see how working from home and avoiding a commute could be a good thing for many. Although with daughter having started her job remotely she has never been inside her office building nor has she ever met her coworkers in person. She has become reclusive and she longs for the day when she can get into the office and work in person with the team….plus her commute would be short…downhill all the way to the end of the hwy and take a left 😊
I think the turmoil of the virus happening during the election mess has made this past year more stressful. At times I feel as though my head would explode at the responses of some concerning what is going on. But yes, our Lord has not turned a blind eye to any of this and I am continually challenged in my fleshly responses at times.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I forgot, sweats and sneakers. Everyday some weeks.
And apparently some introverts rather enjoy the mask thing. No pressure or even recognition out in public.
Actually, too, some churches by going virtual have had a rather impressive outreach, touching folks far and wide outside of their geographical locations.
I remember back in probably January 2020 when Carol expressed concern to me about this new virus that was cropping up in China.
I said, “Ah, nothing to worry about over here.”
It can’t really touch us here in the west, right?
Just ruminating here, but the one thought that keeps coming back to me is that God is surely doing something with all of this. What, I don’t really know. Judgement? A test? A wakeup call to the church? A reminder that He is God? Of our complete dependence and ultimate weakness, our limits? No clue, but …
“Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” — Job 2:10
I could have handled a lot of it better than I have. My spirit flagged as time went on.
Yet I was one of those who managed to keep working, thankfully, so it impacted me far less than many other people.
What’s clear is that none of it has been easy — or pleasant for anyone. People have suffered and died, many of us know at least a few personally. The isolation, especially for our older, more frail people, has been a trial for sure. Because of the newness and unknown nature of the virus, it was hard to know how to respond, even for public health officials. Overkill or being too lax, we’ve seen both responses — and let’s hope there are some clear lessons and direction coming out of all this when there’s more data and time to dispassionately review what worked and what didn’t.
LikeLiked by 2 people