Fathom

Fathom: to penetrate and come to understand

I cannot fathom how anyone — let alone every single Republican –could vote against a bill that will help eradicate child poverty.

And yet it passed, Biden signed the Covid 19 Relief Law, ending a trajectory that began with Reagan in 1981, with the longstanding false notion that tax cuts for the wealthy would somehow trickle down to ordinary citizens. Instead we are closer to the ideas and ideals of Roosevelt’s New Deal, that the government provides support to working and middle class Americans in order to rebuild the economy from the bottom up.

Yup, it’s hard to fathom that there actually could be so much good news in one week.

The Covid relief bill.
Vaccine supply greater than originally anticipated, with May 1st the new date when most adults can schedule their first shot.
The US economy anticipated to recover twice as fast as expected, according to a report from OECD. [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development]

For a moment forget the bipartisanship in the House and Senate, the inequities in access to vaccinations, the racist attacks against Chinese Americans, the fact that some states like Texas are prematurely lifting mask mandates, ad infinitum …The bad stuff can drive you crazy, so let’s focus on the positive, on celebrating the small and great victories for humankind!

For other species, not such a good week. Major, the first rescue pet to reside in the White House, was sent back to Delaware after “an aggressive incident with security detail”, translated to mean he bit a guard. (Bad dog : ( I hope he comes back. We need dogs, and eventually a cat, in the White House! Back home our own rescue continues to decline and we finally are looking into building a ramp so Ruby doesn’t have to be carried up and down the stairs.

Yes, death, decline and disappointment are still out there are in abundance, how could they not be? We live in cycles. The last snow abuts the first crocus. The fact that this is likely Ruby’s last Spring makes it all the more precious. The fact that new Covid variants are especially pernicious coincides with a vast increase in protected Americans. Texas and Tennessee and other states pronounce a big F U to Fauci and every other epidemiologist in the land urging us to continue to mask up and be safe. We embrace the good news against a backdrop that fades but does not evaporate completely…

Reading the comments on any popular article will show a divisiveness and at times viciousness it’s hard to ignore. And yet I choose not to give it power. Because there’s President Biden, VP Harris, the first lady and the second man. It’s hard – but delightful – to fathom that we finally can say that, and that some day, in my lifetime, there will be a first man. There’s progress being made. I put my snow boots in the attic and look ahead.