Out of the Smoke and New Eyes

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Total Confirmed: 1,601,018

Total Deaths: 95,717

Total Recovered: 323,752

The smoke was a few years ago. So dense it made the hairs on my arms stand up. A roiling brown thickness that caught in my throat and made my clothes stink. We closed the windows and the sun was red and we couldn’t see the mountains anymore. And along with it, a gripping primal fear that bumped up my heart rate. And knowing the fires were far, far away didn’t help. Knowing it was just the wind that brought the smoke didn’t help.

You can’t reason yourself out of an Emotion.

Essential Workers include people who work in grocery stores. Obviously. We all need food. But now their voices are being heard. They feel that “Essential” = Exploited and Expendable. Some are demanding hazard pay. Some are dying. Some are just asking for the respect they deserve. Some feel it’s their duty to stay at work. Others just need to support their families. All of them just want to be safe. To be Out of The Smoke.

Starting Positions with Starting Wages. Positions for People with No College Degree. And people used to look down their noses at them. And now everyone relies on them just to keep food in their pantries. The public is looking at them with New Eyes. Many Degrees searching for help and comfort from Many Trades. Finally Recognizing Their Importance.

So here we are again, with this feeling in our bellies. We can’t fight and we can’t flight. Staying put is literally the only way to run away. The adrenaline raises our heart rates and the hairs on our arms stand up. And we shelter in place and dig around for the Ativan.

We can’t reason ourselves out of these emotions.

Because the smoke may well carry more than fear this time.

This one actually has flames in there somewhere.