Certainty

As a child, I lived in a world of certainty.

My first impressions upon being born must have been that my parents and big sister Darlene loved me, because I can't remember a time when that did not form a foundation of my reality.

I soon became aware that the sun came out each day and the moon shone at night.

Growing up in Southern California within a few miles of the beach, I didn't learn firsthand about seasons based on personal experience, but television and school made those changes seem obvious over time.

In Sunday School, I learned that Jesus loves me (this I know!).

On TV, "Superman" stood strong for three of the greatest virtues imaginable: "Truth, justice and the American way."

In elementary school, lessons on how to understand the world came in essential building blocks.

School promptly starts every day at 8:20 AM, Monday through Friday.

If you don't go to school, you can't go out and play.

1 + 1 = 2.  

I before e except after c.

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and the rest of our Founding Fathers were great men who created the best, freest country in the world.

An apple always falls downward as a result of gravity, illustrated by an apple falling on Sir Isaac Newton's head.

All that time invested in learning what I took to be certainties yielded in return a strong sense of security within me.

To this day, I consider myself blessed to be an American Christian with unalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as long as I don't hurt anyone else.

The last year, however, seemed to constantly challenge my comfortable world of certainty.  Freedoms I took for granted evaporated overnight in California, the state where I've lived most of my life.  Politicians pointed to a "once-in-a-lifetime" pandemic as a reason to suspend bedrock principles in the Constitution's Bill of Rights.

Up until 2020, I only used "once-in-a-lifetime" as praise for epic vacations.

Of course, the uncertainty had been gradually rising for years, despite my seeking to stem the tide with my own free voice.  Like a snowball rolling down hill on a mountain covered in loose snow, uncertainty has picked up mass as well as momentum.

While I have enough experience to withstand the onslaught of increasing uncertainty, what about school-aged children today?

They have been taught that much of what I learned as good is actually evil, questioning whether America has been a force for good or evil in the world, if Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 as hero or devil, and whether there is any biological difference between boys and girls, other than men have toxic masculinity and all women must be believed, subject to political persuasion of perceived perpetrators.

The only "truths" that now seem to be understood as self-evident are that America is an inherently racist country and that we are doomed to be destroyed by climate change due to burning fossil fuels.

Children no longer physically go to school every day where they can expect to have fun with friends at recess as well as learning fundamental concepts necessary to communicate and reason.  In fact the next week's schedule can change based on a phone call on Sunday evening because a school bus driver across town has a headache.

Their "regular schedule" has become "asynchronous," starting at different times and locations even for first graders.  Sometimes at their kitchen table, sometimes in a socially-distanced classroom with other kids.  Certainly, by middle school we went to different classes, and in college asyncrhonous becomes the norm, but elementary school eased us into that.

What do they learn in the virtual classroom now?

Computers will calculate numbers for you, if you know which keys to push.

Spellcheck will correct your mistakes.

The founding fathers were mostly slave owners, and in fact they aren't really the founding fathers.  The United States was actually founded in 1619 exclusively to create a haven for slave owners, and only slaves built this country.

Observation and evidence no longer matter as much as computer models that will factor in all uncontrollable natural events and human activities outside of our direct control.

Throw in claims that a deadly virus could kill you at any moment, reinforced by the fact that teachers are afraid to come to the classroom to teach you, and the uncertainty is at a fever pitch for kids.

Playing with friends in person is not safe.

Participating in a ball game at the park?

Way too dangerous!

Sit at home, breathe the same stale air, watch TV and surf through the internet.

Fortunately, our granddaughter Emma has loving parents who from a young age have made education an priority, so she's not falling behind at all.  She excels in academics as well as arts, and her smiling face on Skype tells me that somehow Gina and Laszlo manage to keep her entertained despite working dilligently in their own careers.

Many children, especially those in inner cities, are not nearly so fortunate, academically or emotionally.

Tragically, forty beautiful, healthy American children have committed suicide, as claims that we would go back to normal in two weeks became two months and now --- if we will all wear masks, stay cooped up and get vaccines --- hopefully two years!?!?!

Old folks used to add, "God willing and the river don't rise," but I guess these days it would be more "Government dictating and the climate don't change."

Eight American children have succumbed to Covid-19, and all of them had serious co-morbidities.  Each of those deaths is also tragic, too, but it's doubtful healthy children going to real classrooms daily would have increased that number.  As a Libra, I can say the scale is way out of balance.

I am certain this should not be abided.  We must replace teachers as necessary to return our children to normalcy as soon as possible.

If you made it this far, you may be wondering what the photos have to do with this rant.  Nothing, really.  They're simply photos of Redondo Beach in January, our last month of primary residency there.  The first is the bizarre Full Wolf Moon that I saw one morning at about 4:30 AM.  It's hard to tell, but what looks like a solid dish in my photo is actually the bright reflection of the full moon, which I would estimate to be about 1/37 of the total.  Then there's the larger aura around that which was bright but not to the level of the part that looks solid.

Next is the last sunset just before we enjoyed having a wine, beer and seltzer hour with our good friends Randy and Karen.  We used to get together with them at our condo's hot tub a few times a week, but Covid-19 restrictions took that simple pleasure away.

Two photos show the canals of Venice, California, where we enjoyed visiting with Jay, Sasha, JoJo and Sasha's mother's dog Rennie as we wandered around, taking in the sights one pleasant afternoon.  We also met them in Manhattan Beach for a long walk before getting together with Randy and Karen.

A shot of the moon at about 5 AM shows how the size of the light reflection around the moon had contracted to about half the size (the moon in the middle was still the same size), casting much less light on the same building as in the other photo. Following that is Redondo Beach at sunset on our last evening there.

Finally, a shot of a new boat in King Harbor, an area where we walk about two to three times a week when we walk north, although sometimes we bypass that area in order to make better time on the way to Smart & Final.