Day 3: Love from Many Directions

Deke's Note: Okay, I'm waxing horribly poetic tonight. Why? Because no matter who you are or what you believe, I'm pulling for you. ALL of y'all. This is bigger than we ever thought it would be. Most of the world is SHUT DOWN right now, and it is truly scary. I'm relatively safe in my self-induced quarantine. I feel guilty because thousands of my brothers and sisters worldwide are "out there" doing the work I refuse to due to my honor-bound duty to safeguard my family above all else. In my opinion, ALL transit should be shut down for at least two weeks. Maybe that will eventually happen. Until then, all I have to offer are my humble words as one transit operator, self-imprisoned in my home, with only a keyboard to soothe me. Hopefully, my words are of some comfort or at least encouraging at the very least.

Here I sit, having just spoken to both my sons and a dear new friend. Tommy Transit is stuck in Mexico right now, not knowing how he'll get home to British Columbia. I promised him that if he
makes it here to Portland, I'll drive him to the Canadian border. And that is a promise I will keep.

The world is embroiled in a frenzy of fear and distrust. This horrific pandemic has people hoarding toilet paper, of all things. For crying out fucking loud, people. Didn't your parents teach you any manners? Holding doors open for others, driving courteously while others refuse to, honoring your elders and mothers is something many of us hold dear. Lately, we have lost our way as media reports of this worldwide COVID-19 bug scare us shitless. Truly and ridiculously. How many rolls of TP do you actually need to ride this out? Will those countless gallons of soap and hand sanitizer properly safeguard you against what the rest of us might endure because of your selfish hoarding? Enough to last your family an entire year while others are rendered wipe-less Really?!? Shame on you.

Whatever happened to "pulling together when times are tough"? In the USA, we're no longer Democrats or Republicans or Independents or Disinterested. Now, we're rendered simply selfish. This should be one of many times we have historically risen above fear. However, we're so fragmented it has become one versus the "other". All for one, instead of one for all. Shame on us, America. We're supposed to be world leaders, not the most panicked or least-prepared. What happened to our proud leadership in this world? Where is our once-revered optimism in face of catastrophe? Our collective behavior is foolish in this embarrassing panic we're embroiled within, instead of this miniscule virus most of us could normally kick aside like a beer can in the gutter.

I'm disgusted by what has happened. Instead of taking the lead, our economy is in shambles. Many are rendered unemployed for some undetermined interval, scared and dependent upon a government that takes its cues from the richest of the rich instead of the masses who make the world economy turn. How has this happened? Because many have been conned by those who hold the puppet strings we're all enslaved by, rather than the collective strength our struggles should have propelled us to take control of the weakest segment controlling us now. Strength in numbers is sufficient enough to reward us victory, but we always seem to bow down to the minority which controls us.

Before this pandemic struck the "great" USA, we watched our government ignore Flint, Michigan's water crisis while simultaneously allowing our manufacturing prowess be overtaken by China. Nearly everything we buy is now manufactured by a foreign country whose dominance constantly threatens our own. We're so engrossed by the latest technological advance we have neglected our past  innovation and determination. We have been rendered weak by the very enemies of progress our parents and grandparents so bravely fought. We are wimps in comparison to our ancestors, not worthy of preventing the collective spinning within their graves. America conquered British domination, then slavery, two world wars, a Great Depression and numerous political upheavals and assassinations to arrive a point where our national discussion could have been positive and uplifting. Instead, it has devolved into the ridiculous mess we're mired within. I'm ashamed for those who so bravely fought for our "freedom" because our masses have been rendered once again as the slaves we so fervently fought to free.

I AM FURIOUS I MUST BOW DOWN TO A FUCKING VIRUS! Aren't you?

Just a week ago, I shouted to Portland a Japanese proverb: "Fall down seven times, but stand up EIGHT!" It seemed to fall upon the deafened ears of our collective defeat. What happened to our country's resolve to rise above the Great Depression and World War II? The Cold War? The recession of the 70s and Watergate's implication of the highest levels of our government's corruption? Evidently, today's generation just doesn't give a fuck about governmental incompetence. And that, my friends, has the most frightening implications of all, even that we face now from COVID-19.

It is time we RISE, loud and proud, as the wheels of progress we all ride and provide. Without US, the upper reaches of "success" could never enjoy their hoarded riches. WE gave it to them through our hard work and dreams. They have constantly taken advantage of our collective struggles, and our silence has emboldened them to take advantage of us all each time we rise to demand our fair share, as Charles Dickens' character Oliver Twist did when he meekly asked his cruel orphanage master, "Please sir, I want some more."

Over the next few months, there will be likely billions who echo Oliver's pleading line. Some governments, ruled by those who have learned the many lessons of the past, will rise to fill Oliver's request. It is up to US that his request be honored and fulfilled. Why? Because this virus has rendered us all orphans to the greed which has dominated the world economy since Dickens left us this literary masterpiece. We are all orphans now, slaving away while those we expect to protect us are too busy finding more for themselves of what we cannot have.

I just submitted a form to my transit agency which may (or may not) grant me clemency for taking time off to ensure my family's safety during a pandemic that could have possibly been avoided. Had those we elected had been duly-diligent in safeguarding the many of us Olivers who constantly do their bidding, perhaps this would all be a simple joke. What we're faced with today and for however-many tomorrows it dogs this world is anything but a joke.

I wish ALL my fellow transit workers safe passage through this horrid moment in history. Especially Tommy Transit of Vancouver, British Columbia. He and Michelle embarked upon a Mexico vacation long before the pandemic went worldwide. Now, they are rendered captive in a Third World country, their flight home cancelled. Then there's my new friend Bruce Whalley, who arrived home in Australia just hours after his father passed away. I am one of few who have been there to usher their beloved fathers unto the Heaven of their just delivery... while Bruce could not. My tears flow freely for him because I got to my own father's bedside shortly before he died.

There are millions of other such stories being played out as I write this. My "liberal" heart reaches out to all, no matter whether they agree with me politically. Right now, all that matters to me is that families draw closer together as their friends pull together to help them through this heartbreaking tear in the fabric of our time.

I beg you all to shed all political differences to come together. Wherever you are, we're all connected by this DNA we share as humans. There's only ONE race at the moment: the HUMAN one. Help each other rather than consider your fellows "opponents". We're bigger than that.

All this I pray for you and yours. With great love and respect, I remain
Deke N. Blue