Neo

Of course I do. What an absurd question to ask. Which, of course, you know ... And the hissy fit turns maudlin, from the vapors to the angst.

I’ll do my best. See Jonathan Haidt and Moral Foundations Theory. We discussed it here in Politics for nearly a year. Tribal is a word across ethnicities, races and cultures. I am tribal.

I will adjourn with my F, dishonesty and brass ...

Which tribe did I praise at the expense of the other? I called the two cities/parties/leaders/men dueling banjos where neither had the high ground vis-à-vis the other. If that’s not agnostic, I don’t know what the word means. I can assure you, I hold them in the same regard on this issue. You’re welcome to substitute names or parties and you’re likely to be correct. It’s hardly a riddle. After you do, though, you’re left with a post that elevated neither at the expense of the other. I can be no more honest.

I wish you graded my papers in college.

This may go to politics, or not. It’s government, but it’s agnostic and not tribal. Washington vs Albany is Deliverance and Dueling Banjos, to me. The musicians are polar opposites, but neither has the high ground vis-à-vis the other.

I replied to your post, above, but didn’t address your initial question, health vs way of life. Straight to the point, you are. I am a 59 year old, insulin dependent Type I diabetic. I am 5’ 11” and weigh 215. Any male relative I can remember died of heart disease between ages 48 and 74. I am COVID risk ground zero. I don’t worry about my health. Why worry? My DNA and cumulative life choices are what they are. I choose to live, not stay alive. Bring it. So far, so good.* Way of life is a far greater issue to me, and moves me more. Caution - way of life doesn’t mean lifestyle, party and rich food. Way of life, to me, is how I see the world and my tiny role therein. My greatest pain, greatest sadness, arises in the lack of engagement that fuels me. While I have long periods of introversion and reflection, I emerge and engage, engage, engage. I wasn’t built to self quarantine, virus or not, and I’m not unique. My brain makes me be safe. My heart and gut ache. Imagine my empathy for the similarly constructed and my antipathy for their myopic critics. Raise antipathy to the power of three when the criticism is deduction, debatable in terms of efficacy, subject to change, rooted in chauvinism, delivered by amateurs with moral superiority, and ad hominem. As an aside, deduction is a virtue more often than not. It can be an obstacle in biological science. Time will tell. If you count illness and casualty only in terms of coffins or ICU beds, you’re missing a much more significant big picture. *. I got blood test results, today. The physicians on SabreSpace know how thorough the tests are for men in my situation. I’m “green”, everywhere with a current 5.9 A1c. It ain’t easy. I have no complaints. I can’t wait to see my doctor. I’m going to hug the bastard. I’m bending my own curve. It’s all any one of us can do.

That’s the right point. For the record, there’s not a collective view I’ve not personally bowed to. My ire is aroused when one group disparages those with different opinions. I’m a safe conformist, if you allow for working with a mask and dining out with distancing to be considered safe. My behavior is within one standard deviation of any policy expert. I suspect most everyone here is similarly situated. I’ll not call others, as smart as me and as ethical as me, names because they behave differently, live somewhere else, or vote differently. There aren’t many things I disagree with in terms of suggested behavior. But, I’m smart enough to know others aren’t dumb. I respect their views no less than mine. Given the total cluster flack this is with regard to expected outcome, “certainty” is a baseless vanity. Be safe, make decisions, be mindful of others who also make decisions ... Respect me and I’ll respect you. Tell me you’ve got it figured out, and the clueless don’t, well .... I get fidgety.

I don’t think I’m the blackest pot or kettle, but I’m certainly a cooking vessel. Viruses infect more than lungs.

You’re on .... I had a September trip to NYC planned. Mrs. Neo and I were flying in to visit her girlfriends and their husbands. We were going to see David Byrne at the Hudson Theater. I don’t know the status of the trip. My plan was to find you and go out with you and your brother. You described his work while I watched The Met on quarantine zoom. Or was it Bocelli? Or both?

I’ve been Weaved into a Swamp.

I’ve got to get ready for work! If you have time, email me the essential jobs and the ‘need to work’ roles. Careful where you put the college janitor and cafeteria worker. No Professor, no class, no tacos, no plastic forks. HUMMING ALONG!

Who thinks COVID’s a hoax? Not I. Some think the moon landing is a hoax. You can believe it’s real and still have to pay the bills. No one I mentioned thinks it’s a hoax. I respect your choice to work. Me too. Office work is nice, if you got it. I do. Those who don’t have offices have the real choices to make. How long should Pepper stay home and who’s buying her kid’s diapers? Can you socially distance in a sweaty garage, under hoods, sharing tools? I dunno. The banks weren’t the target of my sympathy. I was thinking of the defeated dad, slumped on the sofa, his face in his hands .. and his kids asking “Mom, what’s wrong?”

Well, you didn’t strike a nerve as that phrase is traditionally used. I acknowledged - I can over think. My subsequent references were designed to point out that over thinking wasn’t required in that particular instance and that I’m not alone when I do over think. Candidly, I smiled when you wrote it. I can’t comment on what you believe I was trying to say in response to what you believe someone else was trying to say. That’s an equation with too many variables for me to solve. I would use the phrase “person willing to freely assemble with others willing to freely assemble” instead of “heroic victim”. I leave it there because I have no expertise, no vision of how and when this ends, that suggests one set of choices is better than another. No one’s shown me a vision, either. I thirst and am unable to make a less self righteous statement than that. Banks released earnings, today. They’re prepared for tsunamis of loss. Each loss is a family, home, health care, day care, and retirement. It’s not the banks that are screwed. You don’t want people working? What’s the end game and when does it arrive? I hear what you don’t want. What do you want, how long will you wait, at what cost to families, and how will you know when you’re finished? In the meantime, I’m going to work tomorrow. I’ll wear my mask, of course. I’m having lunch at Ocean Prime. My server for years, Pepper, won’t be there. She moved back home in May, out of work and unable to afford living on her own. I hope she’s well. I now count eight servers, friends, who are gone. Some were moms and dads. On my way home, I’ll drop off dry cleaning with Sandy or Brenda. They’re both still working, “thank God” as they say. The drive will be comfortable because Tom at Firestone recharged my air conditioning last weekend. His bays were packed. Heroic victims? I’m not sure they’d agree with your assessment. They seem to be people who want to live and work when they don’t see an alternative. I’m not getting an anti-intellectual, selfish, vibe from Brenda or Sandy. Maybe I’m insensitive. I have no quarrel with those who choose to stay home. Twenty percent of my team does. Best wishes, total respect. Lastly, if you see, sense or feel any ‘heroic victim” in the writing, you’ve not read the piece you’re discussing. I like and respect you, too. ?

Usually available later in the day, or next day. Opens: George­town Uni­ver­sity has given all its fac­ulty, in­clud­ing me, the op­tion to teach in the class­room or re­motely via com­puter dur­ing the fall se­mester. Even though my age places me in the high-risk cat­e­gory, I’ve elected to teach in per­son. I feel I have an oblig­a­tion to do so. Continues: For the past four months, I have watched peo­ple younger than my­self risk in­fec­tion for my ben­e­fit. Peo­ple who are of­ten the age of my stu­dents have kept gro­cery stores open for me, cooked and de­liv­ered food to my home, worked in ware­houses, loaded and dri­ven trucks to de­liver pack­ages to me, worked in meat-pro­cess­ing plants and other links in the sup­ply chain to en­sure that I have what I need for a com­fort­able life, and worked in hos­pi­tals so that I can get treat­ment if I get sick. I would feel un­gen­er­ous if I were un­will­ing to run some risk of in­fec­tion my­self to pro­vide my ser­vices to them. Closes: I un­der­stand why my col­leagues, es­pe­cially those in high-risk cat­e­gories, would choose to teach re­motely. My com­ments re­flect only my own eval­u­a­tion of risks and re­wards and are not in­tended as crit­i­cism of those who’ve made a con­trary de­ci­sion. But when classes start up again in Au­gust, I will be at the podium, ready to look my stu­dents in the eye, which is all that will be vis­i­ble above their masks, and get back to work. ———————————————— Rational. Not tribal. Not righteous.