Bright morning moon in a lavender sky hangs westward of me. Red rippled clouds stretch out across the eastern horizon. Take heed ye mariners. Such is the canopy I walk under taking an empty and rinsed milk jug out to the morning’s recycling. An amazing firmament for five days before Christmas. The spectacle my eyes see as I look up makes me think this is truly the season of light. In a mere second the thought is gone for this is no real season of light as darkness encroaches us on so many sides.
Why is this not the season of light?
Well, in that this is the New Plague Journal let us start with Covid. I think the following quote sums it up quite nicely. "We're all anticipating with Delta, with all the travel that we're doing and all these holiday get-togethers, the beginnings of Omicron and its spread as well as ... influenza also making its appearance, we could be in for an ominous winter season and a kind of grim beginning of the new year," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine A grim start to the new year, eh? The recommendations remain the same. Wear a mask. Get vaccinated. Distance oneself appropriately. But do we listen? In a word no. We as a people are fast to claim our freedoms but slow to take up the burdens of good citizenship. As a result, we face not hope but rather a real grim start to 2022.
On another front over the past ten days, we “the people” have been given warnings by a retiring newsperson Brian Williams and also by Chief Justice John Roberts. Both have offered in their way takes on where our current entrenched tribalism is leading us.
The newsperson Mr. Williams said our country has become "unrecognizable" and that powerful politicians have "decided to join the mob" and "burn it all down with us inside." He was referring to the insurrection at the Capitol and so much more. January 6th once the mob entered the United States Capitol by means of violence and mayhem demanded it be investigated down to its core. Protest on the mall? Fine. Circling the U.S. Capitol and chanting with bull horns and waving flags? Also, fine. But once the mob decided to enter the building by force and impede the required Constitutional functions of the members of the House of Representatives causing loss of life it became an existential threat to our fragile democracy and needs to be investigated and prosecuted vigorously. In our system of government such attempts of coercion are wrong; might does not ever equate to right. We are so close to the fire that destroys democracy you can feel the heat in every home in America.
Justice Roberts pled for his fellow justices rebuff efforts by right-wing lawmakers to get around court decisions they disdain by making it virtually impossible for the aggrieved to sue the state enacting problematic laws. This was tied to the Texas legislature’s attack on Roe. Texas S.B. 8 made it virtually impossible for an abortion provider to sue the State of Texas. Roberts’ plea appears to be going unheeded. What a hellatious state of this union.
Roberts opined, “If the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy the rights acquired under those judgments, the Constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery,” Roberts was quoting U.S. v. Peters case, and its finding that state legislatures can't overrule federal courts. “The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake.” We exist as a nation of unified laws with one final arbiter of the legality of those laws for good or ill. If that becomes in doubt our existence as free democracy comes into doubt.
I am a Christian with Buddhist predilections toward meditation. Others have travelled this path before me, I take my inspiration from them. My faith is based on compassion and love, on mercy and charity, and on hope and forgiveness. Each year for decades I have looked forward toward Advent, the season of light. But with physical and social diseases ravaging the land of my birth this year it is hard to fix my eye on these things. As Christmas nears, I don’t want others trying to dazzle me with their conceptions of heaven. What I want is for people to show mercy and love. What I want is just for this short week for us to let it all be and to be at peace.
Perhaps my faith is misplaced and there is no savior, no heaven, no hell. But there is a right now and we can take simple acts to make this moment bearable. We can acknowledge that while differences exist in our moral and political philosophies our humanity demands we respect other people lives. I hope that as people we would listen to the recommendations of medical professionals and do those things needed to protect ourselves and others. I hope that we as citizens consider what it means to live in a nation of laws and govern ourselves accordingly. I would hope that we could focus on light for a moment.
The picture above is from an area called the Foz in Porto, Portugal.
