Beyond the dancing in the streets that was seen alllll over the world after the US elections, just maybe there should be some thoughtful extra nods sent over dinner for Asteroid 2020 VT4, which passed Earth a mere 400 miles over the Pacific last week. It came from the Sun-ward side, which is apparently why nobody appears to have raised the alarms about seeing it coming.
While South Dakota governor Kristi Noem might have been relieved about it lifting the burdens of trying to repair her COVID ravaged state, I have no idea how big a blast hole a house-sized asteroid makes, so I’ll go with thinking it was a warning shot and buy a frozen turkey today. We’re not expecting to be together for the holiday, but brother Steve will deep fry it, maybe socially distancing with a cigar and a little bourbon while waiting, to maintain a tradition we’ve had for the last ten years.
That MILLIONS are still on the move for Thanksgiving is as good a snapshot of why over 12 million have been infected, a perfect “chicken or the egg” argument. People want to see grandkids or be together “one more time” just in case, when the actual being there is probably going to cause an already out of control pandemic to hit whatever gear comes after ‘overdrive.’
If innocents would somehow be spared the negatives, it would’ve been worth the extra bead-work to have it land directly on trump
As a content creation writer, its still a stretch to have a lighter touch regarding the negatives in the USA at this current moment. If you want the Life SUCKS! outlook, you can find 1200 words in that direction anywhere, but looking forward to 2021 doesn’t make anyone a bad person. A lot of ‘Merica is ticked about the delay in transition because of crackpottery and legal wrangling that threatens the safety and very roots of our democracy, but hey, no asteroid, a turkey leg and cranberry sauce, some beers and enough football, being a day closer is a positive, y’know?
Beads, as in prayer
For what its worth, the rosary pictured was my Grandfather Shorkey’s, who was a WWI ‘doughboy’ in 1918, although he was kept in Greenville, SC during his service time. The carry pouch also had a small page of questions to ask wounded-dying soldiers about conversion to the Catholic faith.
Its been said many, many times that there are no atheists in foxholes, and knowing to any extent the ugliness of that conflict’s trench warfare, I’d bet more than a few said yes along the way, just so a well-meaning soldier wouldn’t leave them to die alone.
That said, I’m equally certain a large number of the 250,000-plus Americans who have died essentially alone during the COVID-19 pandemic would have liked the chance to have any kind of last contact with a human being before passing on.
In 2020, it turns out we often had to go with FAITH instead of trips to the physical churches, because having hundreds of worshippers singing and not being socially distanced created a breeding ground for that COVID virus.
You don’t have to dig too deep to recognize that a President Biden will feel, and hope to assuage, this country’s collective pain as much as a WWI soldier would for a dying comrade. Certainly more than trump, who mostly wants credit for the vaccine Pfizer and Moderna – who were NOT part of the governments Operation WarpSpeed – and his enablers ever will.
As they often say in the Carolinas, “Not to be ugly about that,” more hallejuah! for the knowledge of a couple 95% effective vaccines being available in the near future. That I haven’t personally lost anyone that way, yes, a prayer can’t hurt, some focused gratitude is fine any time.
More outside time in Charlotte
Living in Charlotte, “The Buckle on the Bible Belt,” for 26 years, its also easy to look at all the fires out west (5 million acres of Washington, Oregon, California) and the stream of hurricanes that have landed in the Gulf Coast region (seven) and offer an un-sad “Thank you God, it wasn’t us.” HUGO (1989, 67 dead, $11 billion damage) is still remembered here, there were six hurricanes last year, but two named hurricanes in 2018, while wet, weren’t epic disasters like 2005’s Katrina (1,800 dead, $125 billion in damage) in New Orleans.
I watched college football and barbecued under clear blue skies during the second one; Steve’s man cave is open aired, and our Fall weather has been terrific.
Whether having over 1,200 churches in town makes a difference nobody can say, but compared to spending five days of the coldest February EVER the last time I drove to upstate NY, I wouldn’t trade our weather here for anybody’s. Well, maybe Hawai’i, and growing up a Yankee (which is still a term used frequently in these parts), I recall promising I’d *never* say it was too cold if nothing fell off while delivering my paper route in -60 wind chill.
Hey, no asteroid, a turkey leg and cranberry sauce, some beers and enough football, we’ll be a day closer to 2021, y’know?
Beyond the voting chicanery
The WORLD is watching how this country handles being a powerful leader laid low in so many ways. Political animus was an overwhelming fact even before the additon of over 12 million citizens infected, a blown up economy, the shockingly brutal battle between factual Truth, constant misinformation, and administrative malfeasance that left each piece of the once UNITED States of America to fend for itself.
Thanksgiving is uniquely OUR holiday though, and it goes beyond what’s on the table, family from afar arriving (fingers crossed) safely, or the approach of other seasonal holidays and the end of another calendar year, a traditional marker that we’ve collectively cherished.
For the 150 million plus Americans who voted for change this year (well, 80 million anyway), there’s still an element of fear in how the process works out. President Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” and Franklin Roosevelt put a pin in the Great Depression with his, “The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself.”
The joke about “If you remember the Sixties, you weren’t really there” is on a par with those dancing in the streets post-election – our Euro-friends might equate it with the Nazis being defeated.
They, unlike our Founding Fathers, who quite easily imagined there could be people in the White House who would sell this country out like modern day Benedict Arnolds, were on another plane from what trump and his enablers have tried to do by screwing with this election.
Copywriting, keywords
Copywriting revolves around the use of keywords, and while ‘hunkered down,’ ‘gratitude’ and ‘thanks’ might be a little tougher to find than ‘election fraud,’ ‘transition blockage,’ or ‘COVID deaths,’ this year, take any part of Thanksgiving that makes a difference to you, especially the family part, and cherish it.
That my Mom’s best friend the last fifty-five years, Joanne Kline, whose family we alternated holiday dinners with for years, laughed in mentioning she’d finally gotten better at mashed potatoes (don’t ask) when we visited before a Clemson game a while ago, is the sort of Memory buttons copywriters like to push.
Even the best content writer would have a tough time imagining how an asteroid would have become the quintessential and ugliest cherry on top of a tougher 2020 than we already had. I’ll smile and be grateful knowing “my people” are all safe at this point, and while Mom won’t remember telling Dad she’d always hated me wanting a big ol’ leg to chew on like a mountain man while I thought it was a tradition, stuff like that should always count.
A little bourbon, a cigar, family, and being a day closer to 2021, that’s worth writing a little something about too.
Glenn Shorkey – Creative eDitorial Talent Enterprises
http://www.linkedin.com/in/glennshorkey
https://cdtalententerprises.com/about
(704) 502-9947
CDTalent Enterprises 