No Burning Man Blues

Before the pandemic, I had a contract with a major tour operator to shoot travel videos for a month in Italy. I also had invitations to Maine and Quebec in July to escape the Arizona heat. And, someone really nice was going to take me to Hawaii for a week. To top things off, this was the year I was finally going to Burning Man. All canceled, zero, zip, nada travel.

I was feeling sorry for myself this morning, disappointed, "woe is me" mode.

Then I remembered George Floyd. The protests, both the violent and the peaceful. And Trump, not coming forward with words of hope or unity or justice, but encouraging "domination," threatening cites and states, encouraging his racist base, fanning the flames of hate. Black Lives Matter has never been more serious. The virus is spiking, but opening the economy is more important than saving lives. The dull and ignorant refuse to wear masks or practice social distancing.

Remember the first line of Howard Beale's rant in the movie "Network?" (1976)

“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job."

 

And he ends the rant with:

 

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

That's where I am -- fighting off depression, fighting off the "woe is me blues," fighting for something. We have to change the system that got us to this awful place in history. My weapons are: working for Democrats (#voteblue), and contributing what I can to organizations that support good works for Black Lives Matter, food banks, the homeless, and people out-of-work.

It's a way to cope with it all. I mean, we all have to do something positive right now, don't we? So far I still have my job this fall, so I'm not personally suffering the way so many are. It is incumbent on me to try to help make things better for my neighbor, my town, my state, and my country. Right?

And even though I can't go to Burning Man this year, I can still hike naked in the desert nearby, right?