Normal

  Next up, Labor day. Isn't that something? Just like that. Not that Labor day is a big deal anymore. It was, at least when I was young it was. It marked the end of the summer season and a return to normalcy. Well, we haven't been normal in quite a while when it comes to that these days. But I'm thinking about back in the 1960's when I was growing up in East Hampton, before it was the "Hamptons" and the "termites" as my father called those city folks, infestation lasted year round. White sales usually followed as well, you know because no one wanted to wear white after labor day. Today I'm being told to be less white! All things change over time I suppose, except me, I haven't changed all that much. At least that is what I tell myself when looking in the mirror. I admit to showing some signs of the passing of the seasons, to be honest about it I'd have to say it's late summer now, I'm hoping I don't fall! Oh alright, it is way down in the fall but not quite the winter of my days. 

  I'm thinking what with all this Covid stuff it does seem like a lot of holidays have just been skipped over. Things certainly haven't been the same. It's starting to come back, a return to normal, but I know it will never be the same. There will be those wearing masks from now on. Now that masks have become a symbol of virtue that is. Or is it a symbol of fear? Well you decide. I won't be wearing any masks unless the law mandates them. I expect that at some point there will be that infringement on our privacy. Proof of vaccination will be required or services denied. Probably won't need an ID to vote but will need your certified, notarized, government issued vaccine record! I was at Riverfest, a community function sponsored by the town, a sort of block party you could say. Yes, there were people there wearing a mask. But it is Greensboro, Maryland, conservative country and the majority of the folks here exercise common sense. Fear doesn't rule the day around here.

  I'm hoping that this Labor day will mark a return once again, like it did in my youth. We had a parade, celebrated the end of summer and prepared to go back to school. Living in New York, the state, not the City, school didn't begin until after Labor day. That has become a subject of debate here in Maryland these days. Should school begin after Labor day? Currently the school year in Caroline County will begin Aug 30, before labor day. I don't believe it is much a point of contention in Caroline County as in others. Mostly an agricultural county not many are concerned about this interfering in family vacations and such. That is usually the concern of those working in the cities, the white collar crowd that doesn't like to be inconvenienced with their summer planning. It wasn't a concern with my family growing up, we just waited until the termites went back to wherever they came from. After the summer was over, all the profits that could be made had been collected, it was time to be rid of them! Yeah, things quieted down and life went back to normal. 

  I dislike all this talk about the new normal. In the first place there really isn't much new about any of this. Politics, money and class have always been issues in society. We go through various stages, round and round in a never ending cycle. If you recall, the 1960's was quite a tumultuous time what with the war protestors and civil rights activists. Not all that different than what we are seeing today. just taken to a different level. The civil rights act of 1965 concerned what? Voting rights and what are we debating today? Voting rights. Discrimination is the issue, right? What's different this time? Now we are trying to write laws that discriminate against the ones accused of discrimination! How are we going to do that? By not writing laws that apply equally to everyone. We will institute the "honor" system. Well all I have to say about that is. there is no honor among thieves! Nothing new about that. 

  As far as normalcy goes, that ship has sailed. It began when we rejected the natural order of things and insisted that was normal. That was a choice. It could be argued all that began in earnest in 1973 when the Supreme Court decided that killing babies was a choice! Is that normal? Really is it normal for a society to decide that if you don't want a baby you can just kill that baby! That's normal? I don't think so. And now we have men insisting they are women, women thinking they are men, and courts agreeing with that! Normal? Our government is offering bribes to the citizens to comply with their requests. Get the jab! Stimulus checks to follow. Bribery as an accepted practice. business as usual? The lobbyists have been playing that game forever, nothing new about that. The new normal? No, it ain't new and it ain't normal!