It’s déjà vu, all over again

When that great American philosopher, Yogi Berra made that comment, who knew what he was talking about? Was it the fast ball he missed and struck out, the fly ball that he couldn’t reach, or was he talking about a couple of hot dogs that the vendor forgot to bring back to the dugout?

Yogi’s gone so we will never really know the answer to these curious questions; but I have questions. Why is everyday like the day before? Why is the news the same… we have gone from pandemic to pandemonium?

Maybe a benefit to being older or just old, is that we thought we had seen it all, but guess what, we didn’t.

I’ve lived through polio as the scourge of the early 50’s where parents were afraid to have their kids play outside in the summer or cool off at the municipal pool.

I’ve lived through the threat of nuclear war, where kids had drills to hide under their school desks. Wars came, the draft happened, race riots and the burning of cities was the headline, and we, the “golden agers” lived through it; but this time it is different. I have noticed among my peers a sense of hopelessness, despair, and fright.

Fear of catching this virus called COVID 19, fear that our livelihood will evaporate like the depression of 1929, or 2008. Fear that looking someone in the eye will provoke a violent tantrum and then a fistfight……we have been hiding in our houses.

Well I am here to tell you that this too shall pass. I’ve lived a full life where all this bad stuff happened and we survived. Cities burned and then were rebuilt. Riots, hurricanes, fires, happened and we rebuilt. Relationships were broken and we rebuilt them. Fear, of course was there but we met it, head on.

This is not the time to hide, be scared, or withdraw. Yes, we have to be careful…who doesn’t? Let’s wear our masks and gloves to go out…if someone is not wearing a mask, it’s their problem. What about violence?

Yes, it’s there but it’s always there. Don’t go blank when you go out, look around, see what’s around and then go straight to where you want to go.

What about the divisiveness around us? Do what you can, where you can and when you can…. but do not, and I repeat, do not let this blur your day and make it just another day to burn. As the movie Groundhog showed, make the day different, make it interesting, or find something to interest you.

We may be gray in the beard, a little lighter on the top of our heads, and maybe our walk is a “tad” slower, but we are not going to hide in a corner.

You know why? Because living as many years as we have, we know that “this too shall pass.”

As always, take my advice for what it is… It’s just AS I SEE IT!