Rant #2,443: Hot Fun In the Summertime

How was your July 4th weekend?

Did you barbecue, go swimming, celebrate our nation's birthday, or did you march and protest about how terrible this country is?

We swam, barbecued, and on Saturday, heard a ream of illegal fireworks being shot out by a neighbor for about two solid hours.

On Friday, my family was in the pool, which really, is the only place to be when it is as hot as it has been in our neck of the woods.

It was fun, it was safe, and it was a nice reprieve from the heat.

And yes, I admit that we are lucky that we have a backyard pool, because it is so much safer than going to the beach or the public pools, where I find it hard to believe that people are actually able to social distance in the proper way.

But that being said, as I just said, there is nothing like being in the water when it is hot, hot, hot.

On Saturday, July 4, we went out east for a barbecue at my brother in law's home.

There were seven of us--my two brother in laws, their spouses and my family--and we were able to social distance as best as we could, and we had a good time.

Then on Sunday, we had our own barbecue, with my family and my parents, and it went very well. It was hot and I was even hotter, manning the grill, but it was a fun time.

And at any of our holiday weekend gatherings, we tried to stay away from talk about the coronavirus and politics, but these subjects did creep into the conversation at least a little bit, in particular on Saturday, because ... well ... those subjects are shaping our lives right now--

And not shaping them very well at all.

Whatever side of the fence you are on politically, the coronavirus has really put a damper on everything we do?

Is it virulence overblown? Is it just another form of the flu that we have to deal with as a civilization?

I am no doctor and no expert, and I really don't have any answers to those questions/

But I do know that we can't sit with our hands folded and wait for this thing to go away, as some would like us to do.

There are spikes all over the country, and anybody who is surprised or up in arms about this should use their brains a bit: don't you think that the more we open our country up, the more the virus is going to spread?

My wife and I saw report after report leading into this weekend about how to contain the virus in your own settings during the July 4th weekend, and some of them made sense while others were almost comical in nature.

Some of the recommendations about how to have barbecues were really laughable, like to keep a list of people attending so if one got the disease, it could be traced easier.

Tables for eating are to be socially distant, and each family at such gatherings were to get their own table and their own set of silverware.

Ketchup, mustard and the like were to be divvied out in individual packets, and each family was to get their food individually, too.

I mean, if you are going to do that, and go to that extent, why bother?

We had our barbecues, and true, we only had family at these barbecues, but was their any caution at even our barbecues?

On our July 4th barbecue, our host works in a major hospital, and has been around patients in all matters of distress. My other brother in law works in a supermarket, where he meets up with people who have all matters of health. His wife works in a retail establishment, and ditto for who she meets up with on a daily basis.

And my wife works in a bank, and double ditto for her ... and she also handles money, which is probably the biggest germ spreader of them all.

We did not kiss or hug anyone at these get togethers, there was no shaking of hands, and we spent 99 percent of the time outside, so we did, in fact, follow some protocols that have been suggested by so-called experts to stem the tide of this disease.

Meanwhile, across the street from where we were in July 4th, there was a huge gathering where, from what we could see, there was absolutely no social distancing going on, nobody was wearing masks, and quite frankly, could have easily been shut down if anyone cared to report it.

And then we drove back to our neighborhood, and was not only met by incessant firecrackers and other fireworks, but heard that on the other side of town, there was an incident where a young person was shot dead.

Look, we have all heard the term "crazy from the heat," but I think this year, the major change in our lives due to the pandemic has upped that term several notches.

I have seen it myself. People are paranoid and have absolutely no patience with others, and our lax laws are leading to increased shootings and an increase in fatalities.

And the summer really just began ... do you think this is going to get any better?

Then we have these marchers, these lynch mobs, which go on incessantly, and I do really believe at this point, they have completely lost whatever way they have had and are just there to pacify participants into doing something when there is nothing really to do.

The toppling and destruction of statues, simply because you don't like what they stand for, has become a disease in itself, pushed on by our leaders who are looking for their next vote and nothing else.

And since our police force has been declawed, and are nothing but security guards now, even they can't stop this wanton destruction.

Also, let's not forget that when these insolent babies march, all social distancing is out the window.

And when I hear that the NFL will play the supposed Black National Anthem before each one of their early games, I know that this country is being fractured by crazy people at all levels, from the ground level on up.

I guess that that is what they want, and they have their political, physical and monetary reasons for backing or doing little to stem such abhorrent behavior.

As I said from the very beginning, once the summer came, all bets are off on anything, and I guess that I must have a little bit of Kreskin in me, because what I have said from the start about this pandemic and how it is going to affect people during the hot summer has come true.

But of course, as a thinking person, I don't think I was alone in that prediction. Anybody with a brain in his or her head would have pretty much figured this out in February.

Yes, "Hot Fun in the Summertime" it really is, but somehow, I don't think Sly Stewart and his Family Stone had what is happening in mind when they sung that song.

It has taken on new meaning during the summer of 2020, hasn't it?