Cordelia's Mom, Still

The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t chaotic enough?  At this exact time, must we also have civil unrest and legal protests which subsequently turn violent?

This is really weird.  I haven’t had a curfew since I was 16 and living at home.   I think I had a curfew until I turned 18 and moved out on my own.  That happened to be during the late 1960’s after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I remember those times well, and the current riots and looting remind me of those days.

Today, we are under curfew in all of Erie County, New York due to rioting and looting after nightfall.  While it has been bad here, it’s been so much worse in other areas of the state and the country.  I’ve seen the videos depicting violence against people and property; I’ve watched videos of policy brutality, videos of peaceful protest followed by videos of violence and rampant looting, videos of unnecessary aggression by police against protestors, and videos of aggression by protestors against those police who are trying to do their job to control the chaos.

Have we not learned anything in the last 50 years? I find it hard to accept that there is still so much racial tension.  I tried to raise my kids to have no pre-conceived notions about anyone, whether black, white, brown, yellow, rainbow colored, or green.  In fact, at least one of my daughters didn’t know the meaning of the N word until she heard it in elementary school from one of her classmates.  I then found myself in the sad position of having to explain not only the N word, but also  many other terms maligning people of other races and from other countries (which words had also been heard at school).

Sure, there are lots of people I don’t like and have no interest in being cozy with, for whatever reason.  But those particular people have, in fact, given me a specific reason to dislike them, and it isn’t because of race or nationality.  At times I have been known to utter derogatory comments about other drivers, but those tend to be more towards the F word, and often the A and B words.  As we all know, those words can apply to any race or nationality – we can all be equally annoying to others, can’t we?

Sometimes I don’t want to be friendly with anyone.  That’s just my way.

The majority of the protestors (a variety of skin colors and nationalities) are peaceful, and most of them go home when the legal protest is over.  I understand there are outside agitators whose sole purpose is to use those legal protests in order to create mayhem, and I understand there are a few people in power who think such mayhem is a great launch platform to be used for furthering one’s own political goals.

It has to stop.  This is not the 1960’s.  We do not live in Nazi Germany.  This is America – we are all Americans.  By coming together during 911 and during the COVID-19 crisis, we have already shown that we can join together as Americans.

I am not a political person; I do not support any particular party or candidate.  But I do think it’s time for all Americans to band together and exercise their voting rights to assure that we have leadership which does not use natural disasters, health crises, and civil unrest as the basis to further their own political ambitions.

I’ll get off my own platform now.  It’s time to prepare for my return to work next week, and there’s so much to do.  You know, all those things that I planned to do and procrastinated about because the pandemic went on for so long that I thought I had a lot more time.  Well, time is about to be up.  Gotta get moving on some of those little projects.  Gotta get Puppy Cody back on a workday schedule.

I imagine that despite the curfew, a “real” photographer would use this opportunity to get some awesome urban unrest photos. Thank heavens I’m not a “real” photographer. I’ll stick with Puppy Cody photos and rebuilding photos.

The closest I’ll come to danger is this photo of a potentially electrifying situation:

(Don’t worry – it’s just an optical illusion.  There’s actually distance between those wires and that construction vehicle.)

BTW, remember those disposable masks I ordered from China?  They finally arrived today!  Ordered April 24, delivered June 2.  But at least they got here.  The disposable gloves are still in China, as far as I can determine.

Peace, everyone – wherever you are and whoever you are.

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio