Rational Conclusions

 

A woman who was a classmate through grade and high school is now one of hundreds of thousands who have died of Coronavirus. Maybe she had made every effort to avoid the virus and was simply an unfortunate victim, or maybe she was confused by misinformation surrounding the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.  Regardless, her perpetual smile is gone, and a life fueled by hope and marked by kindness is no more. 

The debate over mask mandates continues and is now an embarrassing political game. If ever we have strained at gnats and swallowed camels it is now, as we bemoan a minor inconvenience in favor of  a far greater threat. An op ed written by a 14 year old Florida Parkland student says it perfectly: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/guest-commentary/os-op-schools-masks-keep-politics-out-20210811-tl2qby2b3bgybivv2boe26ylji-story.html. 

I read that tourist businesses on Lake Powell are being threatened by the mega drought.  Some feel the national parks service is to blame with its failure to extend boat launch ramps to reach receding water levels.  “They (the NPS) are allowing a beautiful, beautiful place to fall apart.” The man with the grievance made no mention of climate change or the ramifications of not having water for hydroelectric power or irrigation or people, but rather stuck to the problem of launching a houseboat without a suitable ramp.

The other night there was a small gathering at the Black Dog Tavern to wish a local couple bon voyage as they prepare to embark on a new life in the North Carolina mountains.  There were only eight of us, and it was one of very few gatherings my wife and I had attended since COVID reared its ugly face.   It was also, I soon realized, the first time in nearly two years that I was at a table with a group of politically identical folks, and it was incredibly refreshing. It is one thing to feel connected to an online commentator and quite another to be at a table of peers carved from the same log. 

With the shroud of American presence removed in Afghanistan, the Taliban are resuming their conquest and are wasting no time at it.  How hopeful they must feel to be free of constraints in forcing their beliefs on the Afghan people.  They have persevered and are reaping, in their minds, a just reward.

We recently listened to an NPR Science Friday report on orca whales.  It’s long been known that orcas have strong and permanent family units.  The old matriarchs, with their long life experiences, will lead the pod to known sources of food in times of scarcity.  It’s also known they mourn the loss of members.  In one documented case, a mother carried its dead newborn a thousand miles before the corpse was dropped or literally disintegrated.  The pods around Puget Sound rely on chinook salmon for food, and the chinook are disappearing as a result of human activities.  Orcas are not the only mammal that values chinook, and efforts to bring them back carry with them a cascade of environmental benefits.

There was an article in the New Yorker on why it is so hard to be rational, and it made me think of the rational people I know and how well it has served them and how the world might benefit from a wave of rational thinking.  We are bombarded with news and endless opinions, and it is easy to get swept up by emotion and half truths or falsehoods and to turn a blind eye toward rational conclusions.  I came across a 

social media post from a pastor in upper Michigan: “Our minds are easily influenced, but we control what the influences are.  Choose wisely.”

August is waning.  Areas of the garden that grew sweetcorn and onions and cucumbers are ready for winter cover crop.  There was a heavy fog this morning and the nests of fall webworms, particularly common this year, were heavy with water droplets and glowing a soft white.  In the woodlot the white snakeroot is blooming, as is blue cardinal flower and wingstem and others that mark the last weeks of summer.  The forecast calls for hot and dry weather.  Parts of Tennessee received more than 14 inches of rain in just a few hours, causing incredible damage and loss of life.  A tropical system brought in moisture which accumulated in an ever warming atmosphere and resulted in an atmospheric river that emptied on central Tennessee. Physics in action.  No rational thought required.

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