Rant #2,549: Light Sings

 “What a revolting development this is!”
 
That was famously first said by the character Chester A. Riley on the classic radio/television sitcom “The Life of Riley,” first voiced by William Bendix and later, by Jackie Gleason.
 
But the phrase has taken on real-life implications in my own family, and unlike the sitcom, it ain’t funny.
 
The least of which circumstance is that we found out late yesterday morning that our cruise for next year—already postponed from its original date—has been canceled, due to the coronavirus, or course.
 
I kind of figured it would be. In this environment, going on a cruise—even in several months time from now—is quite a risk, and I really didn’t believe that the cruise lines could pull it off, and do it safely.
 
Yesterday, the plug was pulled, and we will look for a similar cruise for 2022.
 
That, to me at least, is no big deal. It would have been nice to get away, but we want to get away, of course, but get away safely.
 
That bump in the road is nothing compared to the other “revolting developments” that my family is going through right now.
 
The first of which is my father in law, who is suffering from a variety of ailments right now and has been moved from the Veterans Home into the hospital.
 
I guess he is doing about as well as one can do at age nearly 89 ... he is an old Marine like my father was, and these guys don’t ever give up without a fight. We feel confident that he will lick this thing, but we still have to worry.
 
Let’s all wish this Korean War veteran Godspeed to good health.
 
The next “revolting development” occurred yesterday afternoon, and it hit my immediate family right in the bull’s eye. It is somewhat a long and complicated story, and I am going to try to summarize it here.
 
My son, who sat still and did nothing for seven months while on furlough as he waited for a call that never came from his previous employer, is finally pretty much back to “normal.”
 
He is working—through the grace of a long-time friend of mine—and he has his activities back in place.
 
But it is these activities that might derail EVERYTHING.
 
I received an email late yesterday afternoon from the organization that runs his recreational activities, alerting all parents of the participants that one of the participants tested positive for the coronavirus, and that the person participated in both the basketball and bowling programs, just like my son does.
 
They told us to sit tight, they were going to weigh the options, and that we would hear from them later.
 
No, that did not sit right with me.
 
I told my son about it, and we went over, in our heads, every participant in the basketball group that also was in the bowling group. We came out with seven participants in both, including my son. Since my son does not have the disease, it had to be one of the other six dual participants.
 
I wrote back to the organization, telling them of my findings, and that while I understood that they could not tell me exactly who had the disease, this is something I really needed to know, because two of the other six dual participants are on my son’s bowling team, further enhancing the possibility that my son had the disease, too, or at least had an enhanced possibility of getting it from one of the two other team members.
 
I also told them that they should cancel this week’s activities, and probably cancel these activities until early next year when everything would be sorted out over a few weeks’ time.
 
They then sent back another email … there were now two infected participants, and that they had canceled this week’s activities.
 
I have the phone number of one of his bowling teammates, so I called and eventually spoke to the mother of his teammate, who related to me that her son was fine, actually just was tested for another reason, and that she had pretty much the same thinking as I did about who exactly had the virus, and the possibility that our sons were in closer contact with one of those infected participants.
 
Yes, my son is going to get tested today, and so much is riding on the results of the tests that I shudder to even think about it.
 
If he has contacted the virus—he says he feels fine and has no symptoms—his new job is out the window, as it is thought to be a seasonal job, so he would be excised immediately.
 
My wife and I could also be at risk if he tests positive, and then, what about my 89 year old mother, who lives downstairs in the same house as us?
 
This is such a mess—remember, I, myself, had to be tested last week because I came in close contact with someone who had the virus two weeks before and never told us—that even if he tests negative, the reverberations are very far reaching.

Let's hope that my son is fine, and that those who do have the disease aren't suffering.
 
And all of this happening right before Hanukkah comes, at sunset tonight!
 
Hanukkah is the “Festival of Lights,” and the light the menorah brings us is just so needed in today’s world.
 
I guess I have to look at the menorah this year as signifying not just the “Festival of Lights,” by the “light at the end of the tunnel,” too.
 
Each night, when we light the menorah over eight nights, will signify that we are one step close to getting rid of this scourge, this thing that has ruined lives and livelihoods.
 
The vaccine is being distributed in England and will soon be distributed here, and let’s hope that its effectiveness that we have been told about is not simply a mind-game excursion into getting us to take something that really isn’t as good as it has been portrayed to be.
 
Let’s hope this thing is real, is effective, and can rid us of the peril we are all feeling now, and that is hitting my family and millions of others head-on.
 
So yes, the Hanukkah menorah represents hope this year, and each lit light puts us one day closer to eradicating our country and the world of this horrible thing.
 
So yes, there is a lot of hope affiliated with Hanukkah this year, as well as a lot of trepidation.
 
But we can just look at the menorah as it gets lit during the next eight evenings, and feel the hope pulsating out of those candles.
 
So Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate the holiday.
 
The menorah means hope this year, hope for a better world and a better civilization.