I am tired of hearing the mass media using the term “new normal” twenty-four hours a day. Most of us alive have never seen anything like this. What we are going through and dealing with is not normal. Yet those with social influence like the mass media are implying that this is the way it is going to be.
The last generation that did something remotely like this had to live through the second world war. Back then, we had countries attacking us. This time we cannot see or hear the enemy, yet it exposes the enemy from within. What we as a country (world) are going through is not normal. Giving up our civil liberties and rights without due process is not normal. This was not a quarantine.
Quarantine is for those who are seriously sick with a contagious disease, and they were the ones imprisoned to protect the rest of the community. It was done on a town to town basis. What most of us were under was a form of house arrest. It is not social distancing. Its forced isolation.
This was not for a greater good because no good can come from dictators picking and choosing who is essential and who is not. How much family violence was happening because of these dictators' rulings? Did they even consider that? If not why not?
Every single person from the day they are born until death is equally important. We all come into the world and leave it the same way. Regardless of our skin color, we all bleed red. Its whats inside of us that matters, not our appearance or our point of view. Sadly, most in society cannot recognize that simple fact and prove that by the way they act.
How could two scientists leading a federal agency to advise the President about what to expect have their theories turn out to be so wrong? Why is one of them finally admitting at times he was not telling anyone the truth? Why did it take the world health organization six months to admit the virus was a problem? Was it because they required their big brother’s ‘China’s’ permission?
Each state here in the United States is freely doing what it wants to without federal government interference. The Governors without any debate, discussion, or vote in their statehouses are dictating mandates as if they were laws with approaches that is not normal. Yet according to the mass media, this is all the President's fault. Why?
The virus has created fifty dictators here in the United States and the public knows it. Their conduct, rulings, and decisions are being challenged by some in their state courts because healthy people are tired of sitting at home going broke.
It only proves that everything in our society is political. Only the feds have offered any aid and one side of it tried to hold it up forever to be able to squeeze out a political benefit for their greatest monetary supporters.
It only seems to show that the quid pro quo only appears to be illegal for one side. When the other side is doing it, it is acceptable especially when it can be used to blackmail because someone needs your cooperation to do what they think is best for the country.
Business are closing, cutting back hours, limiting what you can buy, or going bankrupt because of the orders given by elected officials who override the constitution is not normal. The dictators have for the most part ignored the mom and dad's small business operations. Sad that their failure may be caused by one governor’s decisions. I have had enough of the greater good bullshit.
Two Doctors being interviewed by a local Tv station in California were interviewed about the virus situation. They claimed that a lot of deaths were being charged against the virus when it was not the direct factor. It seems the hospital they worked for got paid more if the health problems were virus-related then not. To me, this shows up as being nothing but greed and corruption.
The Tv station uploaded the clip to ‘U Tube’ after revealing it on the evening news. U Tube pulled it down after a million views because it portrayed a side of the virus that does not stand behind their “supported view.” I guess corruption is acceptable to them. Censorship is normal, it happens with every internet site, but it does not make it right.
It has come to the point that all websites should be required by law to publicly state in writing on its site it's political leaning. After all, these sites don’t own the internet, do they? The question must be asked why are they censoring? Is it to hide the truth?
It only shows that if the truth is uploaded to U Tube, Facebook, or Twitter it will be blocked or deleted if it does not comply with their ‘Agenda.’ After all social media must control what we think by dictating what we see. Facebook for example allows you five thousand friends but you are only allowed to see the views of twenty-five. This illustrates just how much of what you are not allowed to see. Can you have a balanced view if you're only allowed to see it from their side?
In our small area of the country, two non-fast food chain restaurants have already closed for good. Many other retail chains have declared bankruptcy. One nursing home with three hundred beds for rehab has ten clients left, which is not normal. As a result, most of their non-management staff have been let go and only a skeleton maintenance crew is kept on. After all, the upper class will always first protect themselves. The medical industry may have been changed forever because of the fear left in the aged like me.
Claiming it was being done to protect us from a virus is pure stupidity. Power corrupts and we are being shown how easily it happens when idiots react differently to the same situation. One side’s conduct is not questioned by the media while the other side is being torn apart. Why? Can anyone answer that without bringing politics into it? What we know about the virus changes every day?
One state had even ordered those with the virus to be sent to nursing homes. It resulted in the body count going up. To those that made the decision to sequester them in nursing homes, it is okay because the ones killed off were no longer productive in their lives anyway. Forty percent of the deaths charged to the virus came via nursing homes. Why is that important?
Now that governor who is riding a wave of popularism is blaming the President for the wisdom behind his direct order. He believes, because of his political views, he cannot be held accountable! I ask who appointed him God? Was the governor desperately trying to weed a certain part of the population out?
In the long run, it saved the state millions. No one called the governor out about his decision. If they can do that now what will happen when they finally socialize our medical services? Will I be one of the ones they decide to kill off to save money?
Getting free federal dollars was more important to him than human life. The worse he made it the more money and help his state received. It makes it clear that greed was his real motivation, not human lives. The more he got the more he could further his political agenda.
One political party is planning to do what the Jews did to Jesus Christ because of how the virus crisis was handled. It must be nice to be a God and able to pass judgment when you sit at home avoiding the situation. Most of them are in the age zone where the virus is the most dangerous. They were more concerned about protecting their asses instead of doing what the country needed.
To be honest, former President Trump did not create hate. Just by being himself, he gave the haters a common front in which to direct their hatred for anything American. Even anti-Trump Republicans fall into that. Social studies replaced civil studies years ago creating a few generations that have no clue what our civil liberties and government structure give us. Thus, resulting in making freedom worthless to a few generations. Were the ‘Educated’ who did that deliberately laying the foundation to overthrow the Republic?
Change is happening whether we choose to see it or not, and not always for the good. A local garden shop nearby has had to restock its vegetable plants four times over what was sold all last spring. The empty grocery store shelves have created a new generation of gardeners making what has been timeless new again.
A lady friend who teaches the basics of sewing out of her home has had to create three new classes. One of the classes will be made up of new mothers to be who want to learn how to make baby diapers. It seems the diaper shortage is affecting them. When I heard that, it brought back a lot of memories of emptying the diaper pail and washing the diapers. Yeah, I’m that old.
One store clerk said it is like the whole town has become ‘Mormon” because people have learned that they need a well stock pantry to cook. After all, the restaurants are shut down. It has even hit our family. Our two married granddaughters are taking learning how to cook from scratch seriously because of the lack of frozen products. My better half is enjoying the attention.
The way my wife explains it, our progressive thinking granddaughters no longer see her as being old, irrelevant, and a drain on society. They are also surprised at how much money is saved when it is homemade. More importantly, homemade food has taste. They now know what they are eating.
In touching on the new crave of impossible meat, one person said that if you read what it was made of, you would not feed it to your dogs. That reminded me of the movie that stared Charles Heston who in it went to find out what was in the crackers he was eating. To his horror, he discovered that big brother was feeding them processed human flesh. Does this begin to sound familiar?
A store manager who works for Walmart told me that their sales are up from last year with payroll costs cut in half because of the reduced hours of business and the lack of grocery stock coming in. He is personally afraid that the hours for staff will not be coming back to what they were before. The corporation is learning the hard way that it can do a lot more with fewer payroll expenses.
What was normal may be gone for good! Stores being open twenty-four seven may be a thing of the past. One local grocery store with seventeen locations has been bought out by an out of state store chain. The lack of stock in the stores made the take over a lot cheaper.
Farmers and ranchers killing their livestock and dumping milk they cannot get to market is not normal. Some are explaining that it was because there was a lack of truckers. City officials asking you to turn in your neighbor is not normal, yet that is what is being requested by leaders in some cities of our country as if we were a citizen of China.
States demanding that the federal government wipe out their state's debts built up over time because of mismanagement, incompetence, and political payoffs are normal, but a federal political party taking up their cry on their behalf is not.
Not only do these leaders want us to accept their bad conduct but they want the whole country to pay for it. They believe that complete incompetence is now what is expected by those who elect them. Are they trying to prepare us for whats yet to come to our society.
That some of the states are refusing to open their economy to keep the pressure on is not normal. It is a political form of blackmail. They are punishing their citizens and encouraging them to hate those who refuse to give in to the demands they have put before the federal government. After all, hate used in the right way is a powerful weapon that should not be wasted.
If anyone of us did this type of thing privately the feds, using the F.B.I would have us charged and we would be facing time in the federal prison system. What is normal is the voters have no problem with this because it is just ‘politics.’ Hate against our fellow humans because of one’s political views is acceptable.
Hate is normal but the way it has been used as a political tool is not normal. It’s dam dangerous. Are you beginning to see that power given to idiots corrupts? After all, most politicians by their conduct and actions, prove that they believe their citizens are, for the most part, unintelligent stupid morons.
No one man created the virus, but it sure showed society just what most of the politicians are: self-serving bigoted idiots who for the majority want to protect their paycheck while pretending to know everything while knowing nothing at all.
The biggest complaint heard about the stimulation money was the cry “Why haven’t I got it yet?” No one is worried about the consequences to come when we must start paying it back. I can be thankful because I will be long buried before they ever start thinking seriously about doing that. Do not worry, “Me-ism” is doing quite well and will until we must pay for it.
It will be a living hell when the country you live in goes broke. I remember reading about the last days of Nazi Germany where it took a wheelbarrow of paper money to buy a loaf of bread. Is that the future for us?
A hell of a lot of us are on what is being called furlough, but none have been given a date of when we are coming back. How are you going to live if you cannot get off your ass and work? What are you going to do when you find your job no longer exists thanks to the political decisions made in the state or country in which you live? Or when the government handouts run out.
What is the real lesson of the pandemic? Was it to make us become the trained sheep who stay at home, living with the fear, following the instructions of “Big Brother?” As Adolf Hitler said, “We have no problem once we gain power because people don’t think.” Look at what that kind of thinking has brought to the world.
With one political party in support of China, I guess they are pleased with what the communist party is doing to Hong Kong. Are they learning from China’s actions on how to take away our liberties? One way or another we will bow to “Big Brother. After all, that’s how a progressive democracy is supposed to work.”
Most fail to understand that our perception of reality is based on what we have seen or have been shown. Those controlling what we hear, what we see, and what we are told know that fact very well. They have learned these last few months how easy it is to take our freedom away.
George Orwell, when he authored his Sci-Fi books Animal Farm and 1984 was not that far off from seeing our society today for what it would become. What is even sadder is that we all allowed it to happen.
After all, I just explained there is one fact that cannot be disputed. The virus in total in two thousand and twenty has killed less in the US then what the normal flu season does annually.
Story
I had just come out of a meeting with the head brass of the hospital. It was an update of their view of our new normal going forward. They felt that, because of the fear created by the virus, we were going to lose about a third of our patients regularly. Another unknown factor was how many of the forty-five million unemployed had lost their health care coverage.
The pattern of behavior that was emerging over the last three months was making it clear that most of those who were on either Medicaid or Medicare would be cutting their routine doctors’ visits by at least fifty percent until a vaccine was developed. It would have to be a real emergency for them to see a doctor, and as a result, the cost of a doctor’s appointment had gone from a hundred and seventy dollars to two hundred and thirty. Our own hospital’s cancer section has had not one cancer test done in three months.
As a department head, it was my responsibility to cut my staff by a third with the focus of cutting our payroll costs down the most because it was the only business expense that could be controlled.
I got part back from my original pay cut. All those I had to terminate would be let go because of redundancy. That way seniority did not have to be considered. It gave the hospital a clear way to cut its wage costs the most. If I could not achieve what they wanted, they would replace me with someone who would. That is how secure my job now was because of the political rules and regulations set up by various agencies and governments involved in our community.
As I walked from the meeting through the hospital, I realized just how much the hospital was bleeding. The hospital had never looked so empty. It would take the hospital years to make up the revenue lost along with the continuing costs of keeping the building open.
The health insurance companies were saving millions and were not reducing their monthly fees. They were not worried about paying the excess back because they believed that the Obama Health Care would be sentenced to death by the Supreme Court by the end of the year. Although we had been allowed to start to open up the needed clientele was not there.
I was sitting in my office reviewing our files on the employees working underneath me trying to decide who I would suggest to human resources as employees whose services were no longer required. Everyone had family, friends, and children that would be affected by the decisions I made. Some I considered my friends.
With six different locations, our staff amounted to about a hundred and fifty people. With each position terminated, I also had to decide who would be moved up to handle the added responsibilities for less pay.
By doing it this way I was reducing our payroll costs and the projected future payroll costs by thousands for years. I had been told that the twenty-five percent saving in net costs had to be reflected in our total net employee cost in my division after the ordered terminations had taken place.
I made the choices I had to make, but it wore on me because I knew that the pain, I was causing would have a ripple effect as those affected would change their lifestyle drastically.
******
Mary called me while I was working to inform me that June’s oldest son had been arrested in St. Louis. He was caught up in the looting that had erupted as the peaceful demonstration was winding down. I got pissed off about that because I knew, like most, he had not thought things out. Human nature is such that we react without thinking.
We learned that he was being detained for forty-eight hours as a witness in the murder of a retired African American police officer. We would later learn that the person responsible for the killing was a member of Black Lives Matters who no longer saw the man he murdered as an African American because he had sold himself to the white establishment.
Even though the restaurants, hair shops, and most retail were opening, the clientele was not there. Social distancing regulations were limiting the number of customers which helped to keep their staff at a minimum. We knew the jobs were not coming back as fast as the hype that was coming out the mass media’s lips.
Mary was running her shop and office with just one staff because of those same social distancing limitations placed upon her. She was lucky because she had the cash reserves to help her navigate the changes, we faced in society every day.
I came home from another unusually quiet day to find my children in a heated discussion about what was going on in our country. After listening to them to discuss all the events that had been reported on by the news people on CNN, I realized that because of their inexperience in life that they had no clue about any of it.
It was at that point I knew I had failed as a father. I as a father had failed to teach them to use logic in their thinking. None of my four children were able to see beyond what was presented right in front of them. They were not at fault: I was because I had not taught them how to see beyond the bias we are swarmed with every day.
“Enough already,” I said after shutting the television off. “Open your eyes and your mind. Look beyond what you hear, see, and think it all out. What is the big picture showing you? Ask questions like why stores of items were there staged by stores that could be used as weapons. How could they be placed conveniently close to where the peaceful protests were going on. How did the rioter and looters know where they were? How did they know that they could get them and use them? Who was paying for it? Where did the money come from?”
“Look at the age of these rioters? Most were under the age of thirty and from all different races,” I added. “What were they stealing and destroying? Was it to get food to eat? Was done in desperation out of their need for survival? Why did these riots start after the peaceful demonstrations were beginning to wind down? Those questions tell me that it was not a spontaneous thing because it appears that everything had to be planned and organized.
It was funny watching the look on my three daughters' faces. It was apparent that they had not truly thought things out. Like most in our society, they were just blindly reacting to what they were hearing.
“You are implying that what happened had been structured and planned,” Mae said. “What makes you think that?”
“Look at where most of these rioting and looting took place,” I said. “Why were those locations chosen? What weaknesses in their society's structure did they have? What type of elected government-controlled them? What were Black Lives Matter supporters demanding?”
“Then ask yourself why they are demanding the defunding of police? Why do these people want mob rule? Why was the killing of one black life more important than another?” I spoke. “Why were the Black Lives Matters supporters demanding that people of a certain skin color renounce who and what they are?”
Not a word was said by anyone. I guess my points had raised questions they could not answer.
“What was going on was a direct attack on middle-class Americans,” I said. “Nothing more nothing less. Those behind it knew what they were doing.”
“Why would anyone want to do that dad,” James asked?
“Those who want the republic changed have learned it is not going to happen through the vote,” I said. “After learning about our civics and government structure they have realized that founding fathers made that almost impossible. That is why the hype of ‘one vote for all’ for the most part has been left behind. They want to destroy the republic so that a social democracy like China or Iran can be established. To do that they have to destroy the middle class first.”
“Are you saying that racial inequality is not part of it?” my second daughter, Tammy asked?
“There is no such thing as white privilege and never was,” I said. “I have had to work just as hard as anybody else to get me where I am. Billy Moon, who you know quite well is Hindu by birth and look at his achievements compared to mine. His food company is worth millions. Was his doing so well a result of white privilege?”
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I waited for a few moments, just gauging their appearance to see if what I said was registering. It surprised me to see how much had gone right by their eyesight after watching the progressive’s chosen network.
“Nobody has given either of us anything, he just did better with his opportunities then I did,” I added. “This,” I said, “Is just an excuse that people use to explain away what they cannot control because they have been taught that it is always someone else’s fault when something in their lives goes wrong. The problem we have in society is that the ones behind the entitled class have taught them to believe it.”
“Wait there is no entitled class,” James replied. “That just bullshit that the media has come up with.”
“James when you were in grade seven and wanted to start grade eight with a pair of the newest ‘Air Jordan’s,’ I said. “What did I tell you?”
“That if I wanted those two hundred dollars plus shoes you would allow me to get them,” he said. “I was excited and thrilled to death until you added that you had budgeted sixty dollars for runners that’s all I will pay towards runners. If I wanted them, I would have to earn the rest of the money to pay for them.”
“What did you learn from that experience,” I asked?
“After getting them and wearing them that after all that hard work they had not been worth it,” James said. “They did not last any longer than other brands if you used them normally.”
“It taught you a lesson about the reality of life that the entitled have never learned,” I explained. “It has affected every decision you have ever made.”
“That’s because it wasn’t handed to me on a silver platter,” James said. “I had to learn things the hard way. It forced me to evaluate everything I wanted.”
“It was a simple lesson that a lot of the entitled class have never learned,” I said. “Growing up their parents catered to their every whim by giving them everything materially that they wanted, probably because they felt guilty for not spending enough time with them. It forced a moral system on you that is different from them. You would not go looting because you realize the cost it has on our whole society. To the entitled class cost means nothing. They on the other hand want everything for nothing.”
“Look at your cousin and the problem he is in because he wanted to march in a peaceful demonstration,” I said. “Because of his presence, he was used by others for their agenda. He could be charged because of his conduct as being an accessory after the fact because he did nothing to stop it.”
The look of shock on my children’s faces was priceless. It was if they were finally getting how real life worked. There was always two sides to a story, and then there was the truth. One had to use their mind logically to figure things out.
“Take a look at your mother and me,” I said. “What happened between us can be broken down to the simple fact that your mother did not think about the cost of what would happen if the truth of what she had done came out. She did not think before she acted. It’s the same with most of the peaceful demonstrators; none of them thought of the consequences of what would happen if it blew up as it did.”
“Like the fact that my bio father Uncle Thomas is now living out of the travel trailer that Aunt June allowed him to take from their family home while trying to get back on his feet,” Mae said. “Until the court rules on the terms of their divorce, Aunt Mary has got him down and out. She is doing her damndest to make sure he pays in some way for his conduct and is dragging it out as long as possible.”
“Want to bet he is telling everybody that it’s all his wife June’s fault because he has done nothing wrong,” I added. “With his political views, I bet that’s what he is doing. Those not knowing the situation will accept his bullshit without a second thought. Just goes to show you that even in our family, life is not fair, yet the entitled class expect everything should be given to them for nothing. After all many believe that it takes a village for a family to raise their children. Many raised with that belief feel since the village raised them, that the village should continue to pay for the way they want to live.”
“Dad the area that they rioted in were chosen because the local government has shown that they have no respect for law and order, or our current federal government as they were already tying the hands of their police,” James said in response. “It gave them an easy conduit in which to carry out their agenda. These are the ones claiming that they have this new “woke” attitude whatever that is.”
“Your right son,” I said. “When you apply logic it’s easy to see. The only thing I cannot say for sure is that Antifa was behind it even though we have seen plenty of images of t-shirts that read ‘I can’t breathe’ those first few nights. Their international Facebook page says they want to destroy America by tearing down its structure. Is that not what the rioters and looters are doing. Even if it means using violence to achieve it.”
“Dad we are trained more to react than to think,” Betty Joe said. “In university, it is common knowledge that with certain professors if you want good grades you have to promote or explain things that support their political view or else. Disprove them and you fail.”
“What's fair about that,” I asked?
“Nothing because it is teaching a whole generation that the truth does not matter,” Betty Joe responded. “Because you have to go along at times to get what you want.”
“Congrats now you can see why gun sales and sales of related products have gone through the roof,” I added. “The F.B.I., to date, this year has done three million more background checks this year than last year. Most of these requests have come from the east and west coast of our country where a certain political view dominates, not the middle of the country. Those who take the time to use logic regardless of their political views about what is going on in our society can see the painting on the wall and are preparing for the possibility of what might come while praying that it won’t.”
“If you look at the big picture a lot of things do not add up,” James said, “it forces one to conclude there is more to it.”
“Let me throw fuel on the fire if there was racial inequality why wasn’t it resolved under the eight years of President Obama and all those before him,” I said. “Another accomplishment of all this disruption of our everyday society is the return of over sixteen percent unemployment in the African American community.”
“Dammit Dad, it is looking more like the pandemic, and the riots were designed to get the African American under the thumbs of those they have depended on for years,” Mae said. “If that can be proven it would explain a lot of things.”
“Well China is claiming that we started the pandemic way back last year when we brought the virus over and released it to destroy their economy,” Tammy said.
“The bottom line is that we will never know what the truth is,” I said. “More importantly you all need to understand that just because we can’t prove something doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Going forward learn to look at all sides and assume that the worst, as far as society is concerned is true because nine times out of ten ‘time’ will prove your thinking right.”
“You are making it seem that there are some who believe that all the collateral damage being done to our society is acceptable if it furthers their agenda further of dividing the country,” Betty Joe pointed out.
“Careful dear your words sound very much like what came out of the speaker of the House’s mouth,” I said. “She was talking about the damage that would be done because of her green agenda and said collateral damage is just the cost of progress and we all need to just accept it.”
I was surprised by the look on Tammy Lynn’s face. She was a thinker and usually kept her thoughts to herself.
“Dad,” she said. “I didn’t see it but those who went rioting knew the odds of them ever being caught were slim to none. With the views of local authorities, the risk of being charged and convicted was almost nonexistent. Their actions were not taking advantage of an opportunity, they went there deliberately knowing that they were going to steal and destroy.”
I smiled because I knew that when you looked behind what was presented in front of you there was always a different picture. It was nice to know that with my children from this day forward, they would never look at what the mass media presented in the same way.
“Many people, especially ignorant people who can’t see beyond what's in front of them, want to punish those who speak the truth, “I said. “That’s the cost of living in our society today. They will try to beat you down; make you take back and apologize for what you said. Never give them what they want because they will always want more. If your right and you know it, speak your mind even if it makes you a minority of one. Remember that the truth is always the truth whether they want to hear it or not.”
“It is becoming clear that many see racism where it does not exist. They will fabricate it when they can’t find and ignore it when it is one of their own,” Mae said. “If that is not bad enough, they will blame some other party of it.”
“Sounds like this is being done out of their hate for what the other side believes,” James said. “More than what the underlining facts show. It makes me wonder if it is that open in society what does my employer thinks about me and my views.”
“Be careful expressing these thoughts in public,” I said. “Doing so will bring down upon yourself problems that you’re not ready or prepared to handle.”
“Why Dad,” James asked?
“When the mass media makes a saint out of a lifelong criminal because he got killed by a bad cop to incite, instead of calm down, and refuses to disclose the truth about both of them,” I said. “They become the problem, not the reporter of it. It makes me wonder why they want to destroy our society as we know it. Ask yourself this, if the publics eyes are on a situation what will the politicians do in order to satisfy their demands?”
“The bottom line, Dad is that the left is attacking the democratically controlled parts of the country and blaming Trump for it to further their agenda of destroying the government structure and to make sure he is booted out of office. Antifa and black life matters are both leftist organizations,” Mae said. “I wonder if anyone in the mass media will be honest enough to admit it?”
“I doubt it,” I said. “They can’t even admit that they are progressive-minded. The only thing that matters to half the population in America is reaching the goal of destroying the Republic and making a pre-Nazi Germany society. They do not realize that in doing that the United States will cease to be because each state will be free to decide its future. It will end up becoming at least four different countries. After all President Obama, the god of so many said the problem is that the other side had not been taught to think the right way. That thought just might explain why we have two different views in our society going against each other.”
The living room was quiet for a few before I spoke again. It was clear that my thoughts were being digested. I knew they were seeing things in a different light because they knew I would not mislead them.
“If you research the history of the KKK you will find it was also a democratic organization when it was formed. Many of their founding members were good politicians with seats in our elected government. In doing so you have to ask, are the current left-leaning movements just a recreation of it because they believe in the same things,” I stated.
“Another ignored historical fact is that when the Republican party was first formed its only platform was that they wanted the abolishment of slavery,” I said. “Yet to most progressives in our society, history lies and the greatest thing the democrats have ever done was bringing freedom to the African American community by ending slavery.”
The stunned look on my four children’s faces was something I would remember all my life. Like most of those under the age of thirty, they had no real clue as to what America was all about. Nor did they understand why the founders wanted liberty and freedom protected in such a way that the only way to get rid of it was to destroy everything this country stood for.
“Dad,” James said in complete surprise. “Can that be proven?
“Yes,” I responded, “but you best look in the library going through a lot of books. Most search engines on the computer will send you in a different direction until you give up.”
“We all should be thankful,” Tammy Lynn said. “We all have a father that can look beyond social engineering. Using what the mass media has presented to us without condemning either side he was able to expand our view to something we were to blind to see. He was able to show how everything going on in our society is interconnected. It also explains why they are going after the Christian churches because our county was founded on Jewish Christian principles.”
“But why concentrate on the police department,” James asked?
“They represent the most visible part of our society as we know it,” I said. “Destroy them and you got the KO’s started that will end up toppling the government. Black Lives Matter is just another tool that is being used to reach an agenda. Proof of that is right in front of us yet not talked about. If Black Lives truly mattered like they all say it does things would be a lot different in the cities where the death rate because of black on black shootings are so high because they would be nonexistent.”
******
Mary and I were laying in our bed just enjoying the peacefulness of the Saturday morning. Kim’s lawyer had presented June another offer of the split of family assets after learning from the court ruling there was no way she could get render invalid the family trust my grandfather had set up. That had hurt her because the farmland and the house were worth about half a million.
Add to that the fact that every month for our married life we had paid the same mortgage payment even after it had been paid off, money I had used to buy a few apartment buildings under the trust.
Our divorce was being made more complicated because of the changing situation in front of us. Even in government, because of the lack of funds cuts were being made. The lack of fuel being used had created a huge hole for most states as revenue was drying up. Many government employees were learning the hard way that their lifetime job security was now no longer so secure. Kim was scared she was going to lose her job and was trying to figure out how to get as much cash in the divorce as possible.
We had been hit with another problem and that was with those who were still employed and over sixty-five. Our state unemployment had begun to ask for separation papers to be issued for furloughed employees. This was bringing federal law into play and created another layer of legal problems which, if we followed through with the state's request would lead to hundreds of lawsuits.
Those over sixty-five still working in the hospital were protected from being let go because the potential costs to fight any suits brought by the federal government on their behalf would be extreme.
Mary and I both realized that none of us, regardless of our walk-in life, had much control over what did or did not affect us in our daily life. Too much of what happened outside our door came into play. Everything in our society affected our daily lives in some way. In a way, we all were shocked by how politics affected everything we do.
Mary’s parents, after learning the whole story, had been devastated because the secrets of one had affected so many. As a result, they had told Kim she had to move out as soon as possible. They had openly wondered how different their daughter's lives would have been if there had been honesty from day one.
Mary and I were concerned because we could see how my children’s emotions were affecting their ongoing relationship with their mother. Another problem was with Mae; graduating the job she had been offered had disappeared.
June, Mary, and I had to keep changing our schedule so that all did not find out about our current relationship. Another unseen cost was that relationships were changing. It is hard to have a relationship with the opposite sex when you must keep your social distance. Mae was finding her latest boyfriend becoming more distant every week. Yet Mae was doing her best to hide her inner pain.
*******
I was sitting in my office going through the list of employees that human resources had terminated while being careful that they looked at age, sex, and gender in making sure they kept a multi-cultural balance.
They could not afford to have the possibility of not being balanced in who had been laid off, especially with what was going on in our society these days. With everything, one did being dissected publicly for political reasons one had to approach anything they did with baby steps.
Anyone who had a sense of justice would have to see the insincerity of Antifa and the Antifa-curious because of the images of African American law enforcement officers dead on the ground with the rioters and protestors standing around cheering. It made me wonder how many in public would admit that they had a political agenda.
Most decent people were morally disgusted by their conduct, but the progressive media and the Democrats refused to discuss or mention it. It was as if it never happened. It was sad. They did not care what was being done because their plans were being achieved.
The one remaining receptionist knocked on my door then stuck her head in. “Russel, your soon to be ex-wife would like to talk to you and is refusing to leave until you do.”
“Give me five minutes,” I said. “Then send her back.”
It gave me a few minutes to reflect on our married life. It saddens me to realize that my view on so many fond memories had been changed. Kim’s conduct had me questioning everything about our time together.
I had been in the delivery room for the birth of all four of our children. I could still remember the names she gave me, her screams because of labor pain when she started the few remaining minutes of childbirth. I could still picture the look she had on her face the first time she held the freshly delivered child in her arms. No man ever witnessing that would ever be able to say that there was no such thing as unconditional love.
It was with a touch of sadness that I waited for her. We had not talked directly with each other since that fateful weekend, nor did I want to talk to her right now. I guess in my way I was procrastinating as I had never liked confrontation. I knew there were a lot of questions running through my mind but based on what had been learned I knew that there was most likely no way they would be answered honestly.
When Kim walked in, I looked up. I did not have enough respect left for her to stand up and offer her my hand. I instantly noticed that she look tired and worn down.
“You’re looking good Russ,” Kim said. “I wish I could say the same for me.”
“What do you want Kim,” I asked while not wanting an answer?
“A working relationship going forward,” Kim replied. “Our children want nothing to do with me until the divorce is behind us.”
“Did they tell you that directly,” I asked?
“No, they told my parents that they would not be over as long as I was living there,” Kim explained. “At first I thought it might be them just saying that to keep the virus situation off my parent's mind but with my limited contact with them that was proved wrong. A good example of that is the fact that they are not returning or answering my calls.”
“It takes time for wounds to heal,” I said. “With what we are going through has turned everybody’s life upside down. Nothing seems quite normal, so everybody is becoming guarded about everything.”
“Work is crazy, the school board is still undecided as to what they are going to do during the next school year. On top were all learning a new way to prepare classes. It’s complicated because we used to get paid by the state a diem for every kid in attendance each day. The state and the school boards are trying to figure out a new working relationship going forward.”
“We permanently terminated a third of our staff in my department last Friday,” I said. “Some of them were valued employee’s and I expect I will be let go in the next round of terminations.”
“Can you talk with our children about talking to me,” Kim asked? “And perhaps get June to be a little more reasonable about the split of assets in our divorce?”
“Your best way of achieving that is in your hands Kim,” I said. “Both Thomas and you need to answer the question that is eating at Jilly the most.”
“What question” Kim asked?
“Did Thomas and you conspire to con your sister into marrying him,” I asked? “So that he would always have close contact with the daughter he did not have to raise.”
It was a pure pleasure watching my soon to be ex-wife’s face turn pure white. Without saying a word, she had provided an answer just by her response.
“I guess this conversation is over,” I said. “Your facial expression said it all. Rest assured that I will be telling your sister, June, about this conversation. Goodbye Kim, do not come back everything we need to do can be done via the lawyers.”
As Kim headed toward the exit the tears started to flow but frankly, I didn’t care. In my eyes, she was getting payback for all her life-long lies. I couldn’t understand why she never understood that sooner or later the truth comes out. It was the truth of what she had done all her life that was causing all the problems, yet she was trying to find an easy resolve for something that may never be fixed. Why did most of us act without thinking?
I thought about the time June had gotten her nickname. We all had just gone through a huge water fight with all the kids on a hot summer afternoon. Tammy Lynn about six years old said that her Aunt June looked like a wet Jilly jelly because of the way her wet clothes were hanging on her. Even something as innocent as that was now tainted because of what we had all learned.
******
June and I were having some quality time together. I had taken her for a romantic dinner at a winery which she seemed to enjoy. It while we were driving back to Mary’s apartment that she learned about my conversation with her younger sister. The revelation hit her hard. Then we got hit with the one thing that threw everyone one for a loop. We learned that both her parents were on the way to the hospital because they had tested positive, the virus had gotten them.
It was a shocking reminder to me because like all humans we don’t take things too seriously until it directly affects us. After hearing about their health situation, I had to ask myself ‘what next’ because bad news always seemed to come in threes.
We headed over to Saint Francis hospital. Being devoted Catholics, they would not go anywhere else. I felt kind of uneasy because of all the religious images on display for two reasons; first of all, I was not very religious and because of what Kimberly had explained to me. They were already in the ICU by the time we arrived. Mary and my children were already there. Kimberly was on her way so was Thomas. My in-laws had brought the total cases in our county to sixteen. The only good news was that at this time they did not need ventilators.
We spent the time talking to them through the hospital phone system. For all of us, it was a somber moment. Both were trying to figure out how they had caught it. They had not been out of the house in weeks. Kimberly was doing all the purchasing they needed for the house and everything they could get online they did.
June and her soon-to-be-ex-husband finally got the chance to speak to each other like Kim and I had earlier. They spent a lot of time by themselves talking things out. Mary and I realized by the way they were talking that the wall between them was beginning to come down.
June would tell me later that after she had told him what I had disclosed about Kim’s and my conversation that he admitted he had not been in love with her when they married. He claimed that he had grown to love her before their first child was born.
It was near eleven at night before we called it a day and headed for home. Each one of us took the test to see if it would turn out positive. Having someone you know personally come down with the virus has a way of changing your view of things.
As I drove June to her home, I told her to offer Kimberly the smallest apartment building we owned and nothing more. I wanted to put it all behind me and get on with my life. That way she would have a steady income to live on if they cut her from the school system. The months of arguing had worn me down.
“Russ, I guess we both got hit with what was important tonight,” June said. “Seeing Mom and Dad in the ICU made me realize that it could have been one of us. I think our relationship has to change and you should focus all your attention on Mary. Life is too short for it to be any other way.”
“You are right,” I said. “I guess all three of us have been selfish in a way. Maybe we all three were doing things to get back at Kimberly and Thomas and it clouded our judgment. June, I will never forget the time we spent together, and I will never regret it.”
Before she stepped out of the car she leaned over and kissed me softly and said, “You’ve given me in three months a purer, more attentive love than I had in my whole marriage. My sister, Mary, is a very lucky woman. I’m looking forward to passing it on as a single mother to the child I am carrying.”
With that said June got out of the car wearing a big smile. I sat there completely stunned.
I sat there dumbfounded. It took a while for me to digest. Once I started the truck and headed for home, I started to try to figure out how I was going to explain it all to Mary. As I pulled into my garage, I tried to put on a poker face. Entering my home from the garage I heard Mary and Mae in a heated discussion.
“Uncle Thomas was dumbstruck,” Mae said, “when Aunt June told him tonight that he was going to be on the hook for child support for the next eighteen years, plus post-secondary education cost if the child continues their education.”
“Serves him right,” Mary said. “Add to the fact that it means that Mary gets to keep the house until the child becomes an adult makes her divorce a lot simpler. The only thing they have left to resolve is the paying of the bills and division of the rest of their assets.”
I stood just inside the side door shaking my head in disbelieve. The thoughts that were going through my mind. I had to ask myself if the child June was carrying Thomas’s or mine. If it was mine, was June using it to cause more long time grief to her soon-to-be-ex-husband? If she, was it was brilliant. After all, there is none so bitter as a woman scorned. Payback can be a real bitch.
“I’m home,” I said as I walked towards the kitchen. “June had told me the news while I was driving home. Anyone know how far along she is because she is sure not showing yet.”
“About three months,” Mae said as I entered. “She’s thrilled about it. When I got to talk to her at the hospital, she had already picked out the names. If it’s a boy she’s going to name it Russell after you and if it’s a girl, it's going to be Jill.”
Mary’s face was glowing. I could tell that she already knew what was going on and would tell me the details when we had a private moment.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Mary added. “I wonder how close she is going to be to mine when I deliver. I was going to wait a few days before telling you but with June’s news out I thought I was not going to let her steal all the thunder.”
I guess I had a pretty stunned look on my face because both the ladies in front of me started laughing.
*******
Kimberly took my offer of the smallest apartment building. She was going to leave the management firm in place and move into the penthouse suite. It would provide her with a secure income and lifestyle going forward. Both her’s and my employment situation is still unknown. We are both taking one day at a time.
Believe it or not, Thomas and June decided to give it another try. Time will tell if it works out. I am the father of the child June is carrying but the three of us have agreed it will be a secret that we will all keep until our death unless a medical reason makes it impossible to hide.
It was Kimberly that brought the virus home to her parents. Thankfully, both recovered after being hospitalized for two weeks. Every adult member of the family now has a different attitude towards what's important in life.
Because of the ongoing political upheaval and the ongoing management by the newly created dictators, Mary, my children, and I have become closer. It was Mae who suggested during a family meeting that we transfer some of the equity in the family trust out of the states just in case it gets as bad as we hope it never does.
“Dad,” Mae said. “If they have no qualms before the election talking about how they are going to inclemently change this country we can’t take the chance that they won’t do what they say they are going to do. Having assets outside of the country might be the only thing that saves us.”
All the girls are busy working out the details of the wedding the date to be decided as soon as the divorce is finalized. It was the virus that turned our whole world upside down. Yet it was the virus that brought us together with a new understanding of how our society works.
Finished.