Creepy Statues & Internet Scams in the Time of Coronavirus & the Great Reckoning

The Fourth of July no longer has the same feel given our national discussion on systemic racism and the legacy of slavery, and it shouldn’t. It made me think about how weird it is having a national holiday celebrating independence. I looked it up and only the UK and Sweden don't have a national day of celebration. We watched Hamilton Friday night and I just felt so far removed from the story of the US's independence, especially from the men that brought it about (regardless of the youthfulness and modernity of the production). I cringed internally at the line by Angelica, "I’m ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel!" and also at the ways it skirts around the issue of slavery. But, the music is fantastic and the performances were great. Regarding the Fourth, I decided to use it as a day to celebrate the potential our country has to be better. Maybe going forward we should use it as a day to reflect on ourselves as a nation and whether we match up to the true ideals of all its actual citizens, since this will change from year to year, from generation to generation. What a great opportunity to chat about history in an honest way with our friends, family and children and to instill in our children a critical mind when it comes to being a citizen. Thoughts?

Similar to the Fourth of July uneasiness, I've been thinking a lot about the debate on problematic statues. My main thought here is that I think it is weird to have statues commemorating humans. This ties into the idea of idolatry in Christianity and even though I'm Catholic, I've always felt uneasy about the statues to the saints, etc. All humans are flawed. Maybe we can make statues and commemorations of other things? Or maybe we don't need statues? Wouldn't it be nice to have a massive, gorgeous old tree in the middle of a square instead? The conversation reminded me of Memento Park, this creepy park outside of Budapest with old Hungarian communist statues that I visited when I studied abroad in law school. It was so thoughtful in the sense that it wanted to make sure people remembered the period, but it was literally on the side of a country road and you never felt that it was a commemoration. Museums can handle the showcasing of history in more nuanced ways, so let's just do away with statues, okay? ESPECIALLY, if they commemorate something that causes a huge group of people incredible pain. 

And now, an attempt at levity.

1. Ya'll, my consistency in coming in 5th place overall in Mario Kart now has Ryan thoroughly impressed. To give you an example, if I rank 6th or 10th in 2 of the 4 races, I always manage to get 1st or 2nd in one race to move me up to 5th place overall. What does this mean? Do I just need to trick my brain into making 1st place the only acceptable outcome and then let it do the rest? And why isn’t 1st place already the only acceptable outcome??

2. I got scammed by an outdoor company that I was getting ads from on Facebook and Instagram. I ordered this million-in-one bike/trike/stroller thing for Javi because I read somewhere that he should be able to pedal a tricycle and we haven't even given the poor kid a chance to try. Don’t worry, we are hopefully going to get refunded by our credit card. The part that makes me the most angry is not that I got scammed, but that the product they used to scam me with was EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED. It had everything that would make it easy for us to use in the city and I cannot find a legitimate product to match it. So, I went with a radio flyer trike that at least folds up a bit, but I'm really mourning that unicorn trike. 

3. A shout out to Halal food trucks and their deliciousness for providing Ryan and I one very fun lunch a week for about $14. I used to spend the same amount every day at work on a Postmate lunch order. That now seems so wildly extravagant and I am thankful for this pandemic for helping me have a better sense of spending! 

4. I don't know if it is just me, but I feel like I live in the twilight zone right now. Seeing people I know post and talk about the virus in places where it is now peaking as if this thing came out of nowhere. HELLO???? Did you think we were just making it all up? I had someone complain to me recently about how depressing it is staying at home and the fear, etc. etc. and I wanted to slap them. We've been living this way for 4 months. Other than walking by strangers at the park and on the street, I have only met up in person with my sister and her kids, a friend and her kid and my former boss. Masks on the whole time except for eating, 6 feet apart for pretty much the whole encounter and outside. Any other socializing has been online. It is rough. I understand that to get through this, people will take some risks, as we will be in a couple of weeks as we head out to the beach for a few days with friends. But just remember, if you can abide by the rules for most of the time, it is better for everyone. This thing isn't going anywhere for awhile. Be smart. Listen to science. This isn't a political issue.

Sorry, that last one was a rant, but I needed to get it out. See you all next week! (BTW, I keep pretending in my mind like each post is the last, but then it doesn’t happen, so......sorry?)