When the covid-19 pandemic started I had a pretty good idea how it was going to go. I expected lockdowns and masking. I even expected the pandemic to last about 3 years.
Why? Well, I’m a fan of the horror genre and one of my favorite types of horror movies are pandemic movies. And the thing about Hollywood horror movies of this type is that they are based on actual science; that’s what makes them so compelling. Diseases are like hurricanes: it’s not a matter of IF but WHEN one will occur. There have been many outbreaks in the past and thus science has a pretty good idea of what to expect – and how to deal with it – when an outbreak happens.
What I wasn’t expecting – and perhaps this was stupidly naive of me – was the way a certain subgroup of politicians chose to capitalize on the disease. And even more, the way people actually fell for their bullshit. I thought for sure when folks started actually getting sick and dying that they’d wake up, realize they were being lied to.
But no. Even now, three years later, covid remains one of the main causes of death in the USA. (That’s not even mentioning the disability numbers.) And there are leading politicians out there actively discouraging folks from even getting vaccinated. It’s almost like they want to injure & kill their own followers. And those followers just keep drinking that kool-aid, and I frankly don’t understand why.
Like I said at the beginning I was naïve and optimistic. I thought when things got personal for folks, when the sickness started to reach into their own homes and families, they would change their views. But I was wrong. And for a while that got me super depressed. I couldn’t stand to interact with people any more, knowing how little value so many of them were giving to life.
But I couldn’t do nothing. I still had hours every day to fill. So as I turned inward I began working on something I’d put aside for many years: my garden.
When we moved in to this house 22 years ago one of the reasons we chose it was the large back yard, where I always intended to plant an elaborate garden. But in 2003 I was in a very serious auto accident. It destroyed my mobility for quite a long time and set those plans asunder.
I might have got back on track but one thing after another happened through the years. My garden never spread further than a small flowerbed by the front door. Until covid, when I finally said “fuck the rest of the world I’m just going to putter in my garden”. Since then I’ve made real progress in turning my entire yard – front and back – into a Florida-friendly cottage garden
I can’t help trying to do good, and be a decent person. I can’t help trying not to be an asshole as a general principle. But I am fundamentally more cynical now than I was a few years ago. Luckily I have the therapy now every day of spending time in my garden, hanging out with the blue jays and the squirrels. Working in the dirt with the sun on my back. And then cooling off if I want in my little swimming pool; another lifetime dream.
I’m planting fall flowers & vegetables right now for my garden. Collards and mustard greens, nasturtiums and snapdragons. This is fall by Florida Suncoast standards, obviously, not what you might be planting for fall anywhere else in the country. I will keep y’all posted about how it grows and what I do next in my little patch of earth.
