The Writer’s Section is not confused this morning. They have abandoned that state in order to watch mine with clarity. Cause for that is clear. The contents of the Condo are arriving slowly down at Refuge Farm, box by anonymous box. Sorting them into the Three Piles is well underway. You know the piles. One, normally marked by pursed lips and a shaking of heads is labeled “Donate.” A second pile is categorized by saying “I sort of remember when that came into the collection. I don’t use it, but perhaps folded neatly, it might be useful for the estate planners.” And the third pile is assertively termed: “Stuff we might use regularly if we knew where it was.”

There has been some limited progress on that front, minimizing long term confusion while temporarily increasing uncertainty in the present. It is deemed worthwhile, due to concern for mitigating the effort required for whoever will deal with it all in the future. But sorting through files of running events and property sales from the 1980s while dealing with crisis in 2021 is a surreal adventure adding to disorientation and…well, confusion.   

That was naturally complicated by a Presidential address intended to clear everything up and make it simple. Group sentiments notwithstanding, I am not going to castigate our President. His part in all this is more an integral component of confusion than anything done intentionally by him. Like which side of a notecard should be read and which side displayed to the television cameras. Yesterday’s clarification of the continuing COVID Crisis is a case in point. I appreciate his determination to do the right thing, but watching him try to do it made us a little confused. Some of wondered who it is that thought this was a good way to run what was the most powerful nation on earth, but we asked those confused about that to step out of the discussion. 

There were plenty of snarky comments about the events yesterday, but we will not dignify them with comment. We do confess to being a bit confused on how this is all supposed to work. One of the common themes is about the pandemic, which seems to be coming back in a version that used to be from a place called “India,” which we can’t say anymore, since calling the former crisis virus (“COVID Alpha?”) as “Chinese” is symptomatic of some other confusion about who got it going in the first place. That too is a little confused, since it may have been paid for by the man who for the last few months has been attempting to dispel some minor confusion about its origin. 

That is why we tuned in to hear the new director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explain why the confusion about whether people fully vaccinated against the Alpha version of the Delta version of the virus were protected, and why those same people should be masked to prevent contagion to or from the unvaccinated, who are not wearing masks because they are pretending to be vaccinated. Most of the entire Editorial staff share some confusion, since many unvaccinated claim they already had the disease and have natural immunity now and are confused about nothing. 

So, in the interest of clarity, and to prevent confusion, we may impose a new national identity card demonstrating which category of affirmation or denial all citizens are now claiming. Some of the writers claim two or three of the standard reasons, which in many respects looks like the three piles of stuff from the Condo.   

The most solid opinions are from those who claim to have had the virus, developed their own immune response, and got vaccinated anyway. Another group claims to have been vaccinated at least once (we call them the J&Jers) and mostly twice (with the other two experimental mRNA vaccines, though there is an uncertainty about yet another group from China, of all places). The Third group is the Grumpy Ones, who claim they don’t trust the vaccination, that the masks don’t work, and that this current crisis is not a great deal different than what we used to call “Cold and Flu Season.”  

The Governor of California called this last group the same as ‘drunk drivers,’ which offended those who may be drinking but have no intention of operating their motor vehicles until tomorrow. Even if they look sober, they might not be.   Anyway, we are glad we got that cleared up, although there is still some minor confusion about a couple of minor issues. We could go into them, but it might get a little confusing.   

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra www.vicsocotra.com