Naw, Nope, No

Just say No.

In the English speaking world, we have more than our share of eccentricity. As an American, it is almost a required state of being, especially at your funeral.

There is a joke going around Germany, what borders stupidity? Canada and Mexico is the answer. The problem with English speaking countries, I suspect they like the idea of being difficult or intransigent. Canadians are probably chuckling at the joke and then going, "I resemble that comment." Canadians are more polite than Americans. But they can be rambunctious too. I don't know about Australians or New Zealanders. But from the newspapers online from Britain, they certainly have their cast of characters.

Well we got an enormous number of people with Covid and people are chaffing at the "stay at home" request. We got a whole group of people who are worried about restarting the economy which will need to happen. Meanwhile, they don't seem to understand there is no restarting an economy with a tsunami of disease and death.

Italy is having some success with reducing the amount of cases. New York City is a densely populated area, and they are finally getting some success with the "Stay are home policy." With 30 percent of the world's Covid cases, the USA needs to make some smart moves and stop being so critical of elected officials. They are going to make mistakes. The hardship of Covid's aftermath is going to make people play the blame game.

The amount of people in my state who have Covid are still at manageable levels. Before the stay at home request, I had noticed that shopping areas were not bustling at their usual levels. This was around March 10th. One thing about being a Southerner, we know what poverty is. Pestilence is not poverty but it is it's close cousin. We got a few carrying on about it being fake news; but, the deathrate from Covid is a somber reminder that it is not just like having the flu. We are mouthy but compliant people.

In my hometown, a man who was incredibly popular and an outstanding athlete at my high school died on March 25th from Covid. He had been tested for Covid and was told it was negative two or three weeks before his death. The testing was so unreliable a month ago. And that is the crux of Covid is the unknown. When will we develop a vaccine. When will we develop a good testing policy and follow-up of potential carriers.

One reason Germany has a much lower death rate is that they monitor people more intensely in the beginning. I've always heard that Germans will complain loudly about things until they hear the words, "It's the rule (law)."

I actually have a bit of confidence that we will get a grip on the situation. I also think the world economy will be stronger afterwards. We will be redirected. And like most people, I hope we will have a better tomorrow because of this crisis. I remember my dad talking about the depression. It was a terrible time. But people lived through it.

The reason why I labeled this post Naw, Nope, No was an unusual sight I saw.

I take food to my sister who is in a wheelchair. We live in the blackbelt where there are many more African Americans than whites. There was a white pickup, extended cab with a huge, weathered Confederate Flag flying from a big stick. The occupants were black people. If I looked around, there probably were very few whites. Like I wrote, there are many more black people than white.

The Confederate Flag is considered hurtful by most black people in that hate groups appropriated the Flag. But we still got people who say heritage not hate which would be true for many Southerners. I would never display the flag in that it belongs in a museum. It has been misappropriated too badly by some monstrous thinkers. The Confederate Battle flag is considered racist. There was a parent who complained that her child could see a cotton field from the elementary school they attended. There are a lot of unresolved feelings about the racism and discrimination that black people received.

But the flag is also flown as defiance by someone white and/or from up North. I looked at the kids in the truck. They weren't kids. A working class man, his wife and another working class man in the back seat just out going about their business. I would guess their age would be in their thirties. They smiled at me. No doubt they never considered why I would be looking at them. Culturally we smile and say hi to everyone.

Go figure. I'm not encouraging anyone to fly a rebel flag. I would have loved to ask them about why they had a Confederate battle flag. But the light turned Green. I turned left and they went on down the road. I suspect they were aliens from another planet. That would make sense.

Cotton field. They make more money from the cotton seed than the cotton fiber. When they harvest cotton, it looks like bed stuffing scattered on the side of the roads. My grandfather would fuss if the kids left what he called a gooselock behind when they picked cotton.