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Because COVID-19 can make communication difficult, Dan Schmidt suggests having conversations with family members about medical interventions.
It is a hard assignment for family members to speak for the patient who can’t. So often, the “Do everything, doc” sentiment is a surrogate for an expression of love. If we don’t do “everything” it means we don’t love them. I wanted my daughters to know I felt their love, I know their love, but they could best express their love by sharing my values with my caregivers. (West of the Rotunda, April 30)
Angry and in despair, Sara Lewis chooses to do what she can.
The problems are huge. We are each small. But I have to believe that what we do matters. And we cannot do it alone. (My Purple House, April 30)
John Becket says that “if the restrictions caused by this pandemic are the last nail in the coffin of ‘you’re supposed to have sex on Beltane’ that’s a very good thing.”
This year the Beltane fantasy—let’s face it, that’s what most of this is—is running head-first into the brick wall of quarantines and social distancing. The hype of Beltane as the time when all good Pagans should be having sex has been in decline for some time—this year we know we’re not missing out on anything.
May this most unusual Beltane be bright and joyous, no matter how you choose to celebrate it. (Under the Ancient Oaks, April 28)
When health officials did not immediately dispute Trump’s conjectures about injecting disinfectants, Doug Muder assumes they decided that “Protecting public health is less important than protecting the President’s fragile ego.”
Admitting that Trump said something stupid is a good way to get fired — and then maybe no one in the administration would care about public health.
And so Bryan and Birx have been corrupted by the soul-eating process James Comey described a year ago: First you don’t interrupt when Trump lies about trivial things like his inauguration crowd. Then you give in to peer pressure and flatter him in public. . . . “And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul.” (The Weekly Sift, April 27)
Joanna Fontaine Crawford suggests ways to “read the news without provoking an anxiety attack.”
You are the consumer of the news, and you are the one making sense of it. So when you read a story, pause, and check-in with yourself. Are you breathing faster? Is your jaw clenched, your shoulders rigid, your stomach churning? We each have a physiological “tell” about whether we're feeling anxious.
If you realize you are feeling anxiety, take a deep breath, and remind yourself, “my brain may not be working as well as when I'm not anxious.” (Boots and Blessings, April 27)
Andrew Hidas writes that getting back to normal is the “absolutely necessary first step” in the work of progress.
And it is no baby step, either. More like a Bob Beamon-esque leap, considering how much ground we have lost these past three-and-a-half years.
“Normal” come November will entail high drama and the highest possible stakes, with the very soul of our country on the line. Four more years of Trumpian devastation is certain to leave our country a shambles—dispirited, enfeebled, and more than ever under the sway of know-nothings who do the bidding of today’s masters of the universe, dedicated only to their personal bottom line rather than the common good. (Traversing, April 25)