Quote of the Day: Chesterton on Tradition

“Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father. I, at any rate, cannot separate the two ideas of democracy and tradition; it seems evident to me that they are the same idea. We will have the dead at our councils. The ancient Greeks voted by stones; these shall vote by tombstones. It is all quite regular and official, for most tombstones, like most ballot papers, are marked with a cross.”x

Status Update, One Year Post Treatment: An Anniversary Getaway to Rochester

It's been a whole year since my last radioiodine treatment.  What a busy, quick year that has been!  My last follow up appointment was in October of 2019.  I was supposed to come back in February, but given that the roads in February are not great, and we had scheduled a trip to Hawaii to celebrate a certain husband's 50th birthday, we postponed that appointment til April.  Then the pandemic hit, and no one was going anywhere in April, so.... June it was.  Eight months after my last appointment, and a year post treatment.  I've never gone this long without knowing what the cancer was doing, so I had NO IDEA what to expect.  Given that it's 2020, the year of the Apocalypse, I half prepared myself for bad news.  Didn't stress over it, just began trying to figure out when we could fit in another round of radioiodine and it's accompanying time off work.  As it turns out though, I didn't NEED to think about that!  (Foreshadowing of Good News.  Yes.  Even in 2020!)

Rob and I hit the road for Rochester, and were planning on making it our 22nd Anniversary getaway.  Quarantine has lifted enough that the kids could stay with friends, and hotels were open (although no breakfasts included.  BOO!).  We were hoping to go out to a nice, romantic dinner, but in Minnesota, restaurants weren't yet open to Dine-In, so we got Mexican food to go and ate it in our hotel room.  Not so romantic, but whatever.  We even tried to do a little shopping, as I had gotten a gift card for being an "essential worker" during all of this pandemic stuff, and I was itching to spend it.  Pier One and TJ Maxx were open, but woefully empty, with bare shelves everywhere. Apparently, TJ Maxx had been open since June 1st, but hadn't gotten a truck with new inventory in 3 months.  I had money, but very little to spend it on, which was a bummer.  Stores required masks, six feet distancing, hand sanitzer at every entrance, and sterilized carts.  Dressing rooms were closed.   Not the funnest shopping experience, but better than Walmart, which is the only option we have at home.

The Mayo Clinic also required temperature checks, masks, six feet distancing.  When we went into Dr. Stan's office, there was a pillow on the bench between his desk and I, so that I had to sit at least six feet away from him.  Rob was stuck on a bench in the corner.  Just interesting how life is run these days.

Bottom line, though, was GOOD NEWS!  My tumor marker thyroglobulin went from 2.0 to 1.9, which is in the downward direction (even if only a little), and the LOWEST it has EVER BEEN!!  WOOT WOOT!  The ultrasound showed no new growths, and the spots we knew about had behaved themselves and stayed essentially the same size.  So, it looks like treatment last year may not have cured my cancer, but at least stopped it dead in it's tracks, which is AWESOME NEWS.  Fabulous.  Great news at a time when great news is hard to find.  SO HAPPY.

That's where we're at, and I have a feeling the second half of 2020 is going to be quite a bit more pleasant than the first half.  Let's have an all new New Year's Eve on June 30th, and start this whole thing over, shall we???

The Age of Uncommon Nonsense

In the midst of a pandemic that already had people fearful, frustrated, and on edge, the death of George Floyd has ignited race riots around the country.  His death was horrible and tragic.  I have not heard a single person say "yeah, that was justified".  It wasn't.  No human being should die by having their windpipe crushed by the knee of another human being.  It's barbaric and horrible.  It's not okay in ANYBODY'S world.  We are all enraged, as we rightly should be.

Black lives matter.  Of course they do.  All lives matter.  Of course they do.  So why are we in the mess we're currently in?

I'm a middle aged white woman in the midwest, surrounded primarily by other white people.  I am far from an authority on what goes on in other places.  I can't put myself, by any stretch of the imagination, into the shoes of an inner-city black man. There's nothing in my reality that allows me to imagine that.  Maybe that means I shouldn't have an opinion on this subject.  That's fair.  Maybe I shouldn't.  But I do have an opinion on the human race, because I am a member of that human race.  I have friends and acquaintances of all races, nationalities, and religions, as well as all socioeconomic statuses.  As an observer of humanity,  I find it inconceivable that others in this day and age care anything at all about the color of another person's skin.  In a way, I think the "racism" charge, the charge that this nation is divided by the hatred of another person's skin color, is a distinctly inaccurate depiction of what is going on.   Skin color in and of itself means nothing.  If that was the case, then there would be just as much outrage from Indian-Americans, or Pakistani-Americans.  We would see police pulling over the college professors in their Subaru Outbacks.  But we don't.  The fact that we call this an issue about skin color, in my opinion, misses the point.  This is not an issue about skin color at all.  It's an issue about cultural differences.  And at it's core, I feel it's an issue about FEAR.

This may not be a popular opinion, but if we're going to make any progress at all in this country, then we have to confront the root causes, and not just riot, or protest, or abolish the police, or say "be nice to each other".  Platitudes are not going to fix the problem, and riots sure in the heck are not going to fix anything.  If we feel like the problem is just people being mean to other people because of the color of their skin, we're not going to fix a thing.  If we don't understand motives on both sides, nothing will ever heal.  We have to look at some hard facts that we may not want to look at, or admit.

Yes, there is privilege.   Some people are born with intact families, who provide economic stability and a moral code.  I was lucky enough to be born into such a family.   I didn't even realize it for the longest time, how blessed I was.  I always knew I had parents that would support me, and have my back should life throw me a blow.  Others don't have that.  That gives me an undeniable leg up.  A HUGE leg up.  I had both a mother and a father. I did not live in insecurity or fear.  I knew peace and love as a child. I've worked hard, yes.  I wasn't handed everything on a silver platter.  No one can take that from me.  But I've also been supported every step of the way by a loving family, and it has made ALL the difference.    I... am privileged.  Others are not.  It's not an issue of money, either.  I have known dirt poor families that work their fingers to the bone just to survive, but who love their families and teach them right from wrong.  These are families I look up to, regardless of their bank accounts, because of the quality of their character.  I don't care about what labels they wear, or what kind of car they drive, if they are good people, they have my respect and trust.

If 94% of deaths of black Americans occur at the hands of other blacks... we can't ignore that fact and pretend that cops are not aware of this.  It's the reason racial profiling exists.  And it's why there's more suspicion towards a person of color.  It shouldn't be that way, absolutely it shouldn't, but this "racism" did not form in a vacuum.  Then we need to look at WHY there is more violence and crime in communities of color.  People act out of desperation and fear.  Desperation and ignorance and insecurity leads to poor choices.  It just does.  My privilege is that I had parents who taught me how to make good choices, and others have not had that.  Or they have, but their environment has overruled their parental influence.  Or, the others around them in the environment have acted in such a way that their character is ASSUMED by those in authority.  There begets racial profiling.
   
Of COURSE it all started with slavery in this country.  Of course it did, in our circumstance.  One set of humans treating another set as property and less than human is mortifying, sinful, and inhumane.  It was inhumane when the Romans did it, when the ancient Egyptians did it, when the Native Americans did it, when the African tribes did it.  America does not own the concept of slavery by any means.  It's wrong in any culture, at any time in history.   But we're 240 years out from our abolition.. why have we not put it behind us?  Because even if the legality is gone, the idea persists.  One side sees the other as less than human.  As an "other".  We are not "WE AMERICANS".  We are "African Americans" or "European Americans" or "Asian Americans".   Until we see each other as "we" instead of "them"... things will not heal.  Until we have built trust, and that trust has been earned on both sides... things will not heal.  Until there is more than "understanding", but a common culture, a common set of moral codes again... things will not heal.  Until every child is given the same opportunity of a loving family who teaches and supports... things will not heal.  We need a common set of ideas that unites us, instead of separating us.  We need individuals to have equal opportunities (not equal results.. equal opportunities).  We need intact, stable families to be the cellular make up of our society once again.  We need a common compass, a common dignity.

And until we look at things deeper than a slogan, or a meme, or a skin color... things will not heal.

Chesterton, as always... says it best.

Trace even the Puritan mother back through history and she represents a rebellion against the Cavalier laxity of the English Church, which was at first a rebel against the Catholic civilisation, which had been a rebel against the Pagan civilisation.  Nobody but a lunatic could pretend that these things were a progress; for they obviously go first one way and then the other.  But whichever is right, one thing is certainly wrong; and that is the modern habit of looking at them only from the modern end.  For that is only to see the end of the tale; they rebel against they know not what, because it arose they know not when; intent only on its ending, they are ignorant of its beginning; and therefore of its very being.’