Rant 2,395: My Prerogative

How was your weekend?

Mine was quiet, which was good, and I hope to have a good week this week, the week where I gain a year.

I am happy to say that the tread is still there, and I have a lot of mileage to go before I am done.

My weekend actually began in Friday, where at long last, I finished editing my first novel. It is geared to young adults, age 12 to 15 years of age or so, and I wrote it in a bare bones style that doesn't allude to any modern conveniences--so there is no mention of things like the Internet, cell phones or computers.

The reason I excluded these devices entirely from the 37,000-word novel that I wrote--kind of in between a novella and a novel by word count--is that so much of our lives are shaped by these devices, and I did not want that to happen to the characters in my novel. I wanted them to stand on their own, not be guided by the use of these devices, and I thought by excluding certain things, I could give readers a better handle on exactly what I was trying to say.

In fact, the only "modern" devices I even mention are cars and regular telephones.

So I fully edited this thing, and then I searched around the Internet for what I wanted to do with what I had written.

I found a company out west that was holding a contest for new writers. They usually do not handle books like this, more self help and positive-type novels, but I figured that they could expand their own horizons by at least giving my novel a chance, and, in fact, they are going to call me tomorrow afternoon to speak about my story.

And yes, they are a legitimate book publisher, hold a similar contest every year, and maybe they will be interested in what I have written.

Sure, it might be rough around the edges, it might need a professional book editor to smooth it out a bit, but I am ready for the challenge that such an undertaking might produce ... but let's not put the cart before the horse; let's see if they are interested first.

Beyond that, it was pretty quiet at my house. I did my usual due diligence in my job search, I watched a movie or two, I spoke to my aunt on the phone--she lives at "ground zero" pf this entire pandemic, in Manhattan--and I helped out where was needed.

As for this week, my wife worked on Saturday, has to go back today for the next three days to be on the front lines of this mess, and other than taking my mother to the bank--which has become a great undertaking for her that I can live without myself--I don't really have much planned.

As you know, there was great talk this weekend about further opening up the country, and as I listened to what our leaders had to say, a realization came to me. It is really what I have been saying all along, and until I hear differently, I am going to stick with it.

I put it down on "paper," and sent it out as part of a discussion with a couple of long-time friends that I have. Here it is in edited form:

"Honestly, I am sticking with my year prediction--until next February or March--until things get back to relative normal.

I believe that we will come up with a serum or something to at the very least mitigate the virus, but it is going to take time.

I also believe that we will have to get back to business, to a certain extent, by the end of the summer, or even earlier.

We are going to have to come to the realization that this is just another virus we are going to have to deal with, and deal with it the best we can. 

Like the regular flu--which has many permutations--some people don't get sick from it, other people go get sick from it, and still other people die from it.

It is the same thing with this virus, but the troubling thing is that it spreads faster than anything we have ever seen.

But we, as a country and a civilization, are not going to be completely shut down for any longer than we at least have something to lessen the effects of the virus, and I do think we will have something by summer's end to do that.

That does not mean we go back to the old normal right away, as some people would have us do. It simply means that we are going to deal with it the best we can with the best weapons we can, until something better is developed, if that is possible.

We are already seeing cracks in the regional unions to prevent the spread of the virus. The one for New York is already dented, as one of the state's partners--Pennsylvania--is already saying that certain parts of the state will be open for business very soon. And remember, the northeast is the epicenter of the virus, so this announcement is very important.

I think within a year, we will be back to work, back to play, back to doing what we do in life. We might not have solved the puzzle in full, but we are going to understand that this thing is out there, and we simply have to deal with it on a case by case basis, just like we do with the flu.

Again, I wouldn't go back to business as some states--like Georgia and Florida, the latter to a certain extent--have done right now--I think it is too early--but we can't keep everything totally closed down for much longer, including in New York State.

That does not mean I support those crazy idiots parading around talking about their rights being abridged by what they don't believe is a pandemic. They are being foolish, and there is no excuse for their behavior.

But there is going to come a time when we are just going to have to say that we will deal with this thing as best as we can on a case by case basis, and move forward."

We have to move on from this scourge, and we have to move on soon.

We cannot be shut down like we have been for the past several weeks and hope to make a successful recovery on any level.

I read this weekend that an economist predicts that our country will not fully recover from this mess until 2023 at the earliest. That is a belief that boggles the mind, but one that has to be believed.

There is simply no "magic potion" out there to cure our ills, physically, mentally and emotionally. We are going to have to get things started soon, because there are already cracks in our supposed unity, and we absolutely must look at ways to take baby steps to get things going again.

But they must be baby steps, because doing anything else puts us at risk for something possibly much worse.