Rant #2,463: Long Lonely Nights

My father goes in and out of whatever world he is in right now.

I saw him yesterday, and he was fast asleep.

He actually had sat still enough to have a shave, he was up when my mother saw him, he supposedly sat up in a chair for a spell, but we have no idea how much better he is or if he is better at all.

He is now being fed through the nose, which is a temporary situation, and it is being done because the doctors believe he is aspirating his food rather than processing it normally, meaning that they are trying to figure out how much of his food is going into his lungs--he has double pneumonia--and how much he is actually getting into where it is supposed to go.

He is weak--he weighs 140 or so pounds, at one time he weighed at least 50 pounds more than that, and at his height when he was a younger man, he weighed 230 or so--and yesterday, we had to give our approval to a non-resuscitation decision, meaning that the hospital should go to no extraordinary means to revive him if he were to be on the brink of leaving us.

Happily, the entire family is on the same page with this, and we have decided that when his time has come, he will go gracefully and with dignity.

Let's see what happens.

Let's also see what happens with something that right now, is so far in the back of my mind that if I don't write about it, I don't even think about it.

That is our national unemployment situation, something that at this point, I have one foot in and one foot out of, although my son is firmly ensconced in this mess.

With 30 million Americans out of work--and that total is actually pretty inaccurate, as you can probably add at the very least another 10 million people onto that list, if not even more--Congress is stalemated far apart on how to proceed to the next step, since the current unemployment package--including the $600 weekly benefit on top of what one normally gets from being out of work--as just expired.

This is my take on it, and it isn't very pretty.

The Democrats want to continue the $600 added benefit unabated, for at least a few months. The Republicans want it lessened to about $200 a week.

In my opinion, they are both correct in their beliefs, and they are both wrong, too.

The $600 added on benefit has been a lifeline to those Americans, like me, who have been out of work through no fault of their own. It has provided us a pause in our money worries, has allowed us to pay our bills and pay our rent and pay our mortgage without worry, and in some cases, allowed us to even pack away money into our savings accounts as a cushion of an uncertain future.

Remember, I would say of the supposed 30 million Americans who are officially tallied at being out of work, probably 65 percent to 75 percent of those people are not furloughed--my son is--their jobs are permanently gone, so there is no job to go back to. So we have had to look, look and look some more for work, work which in spite of reports to the contrary, does not really exist.

On the other hand, there are Americans in the same boat as me who look at this as a vacation or who simply aren't looking, and are taking in the money, I believe, under false pretenses. They should be looking for work, but they are not for one reason or another.

Personally, I can't be like that, it is not in my nature, but everyone has their own personal story, so maybe there are valid reasons they are not looking ... but that is not the way I am built, so I cannot do that.

And of course, if you are on furlough, your job is there, your job is waiting for you, so there is no need to look, one day you will return to your job ... hopefully. The more time we go on, the more time the furloughs have put people in a holding pattern for oblivion.

So whether you back what the Democrats believe or what the Republicans believe, you are correct, but the one thing no one back is their inability to get together on this problem with some sort of compromise.

Now, President Trump has chimed in, and he says he has the power to enact an executive order on unemployment while the two sides beat around the bush.

In this case, I do believe he is correct, and he can enact some legislation from his desk to at least temporarily placate those who are out of work until the House and Senate can come up with something together.

And the more this goes on, the more I see the haves and have nots further putting a gulf between themselves.

I am seeing posts on Facebook equating those who have held their jobs through this pandemic--many first responders among them--deriding those who are out of work as some kind of "moochers," because while they have been working so hard on the front lines, others have been sunning themselves at home, and counting their $600 "bonus" for being out of work.

This is just so wrong.

Like I cannot imagine working in a hospital and caring for coronavirus patients during daily 16-hours shifts, those people cannot imagine how hard it is to not have a job and to be searching for something in the midst of a global pandemic.

The rules have completely changed for the job search, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel for those who are out of work and looking diligently, like I have done for the past nearly 10 months.

I am lucky, because my "out" is coming with my early retirement. With only a few weeks of unemployment to do, whatever Congress or the president decides to do, for myself and my family, it was the right thing to do.

What about others who have no outs like me?

Heck, I know two long-time, veteran teachers who might have to file for unemployment themselves if the school year becomes fully at home rather than at least part of the day in the actual school classroom.

That situation might add millions of people to the unemployment rolls.

These are educated, dedicated people who will be out of work and out of options.

Their time is growing near as we go into August--the month where many schools around the country open--and into September, where schools in many states, including New York State, roll out their school years.

What about them, what about people without options? What do they do?

And as for me, I am getting closer to getting a small part-time job to supplement my future Social Security income, which is meager and is taxed at a completely ridiculous rate.

I will let you know more when I find out more, but things do look good for me.

I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched, but it at least looks promising.

But until Congress or the President acts on what to do about unemployment, many of my fellow Americans won't be as fortunate as I think I soon will be ...

And that is just plain wrong.