Riding the Wave, 11 & 12. Normality?

We've had rainy weather yesterday and today, with thunderstorms yesterday evening; typical fall weather here. Temperatures have dropped, and become more normal. It's weather to curl up by the wood stove.

The government has been thinking about the coming holidays, and has proposed that some gatherings might be permitted. Contagion is not going down as quickly as it should for a Christmas without any restrictions. Indoor living and cooler weather are allying themselves with the virus. So, the proposal is for gatherings of a maximum of six people who don't usually live together. And, to facilitate movement between households for the traditional late night suppers on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, the curfew would be pushed back to 1AM. That's fine for those who live on their own and want to get together with parents or siblings, but not the usual gatherings of grandparents, children, and grandchildren, so Christmas will still be much of a one household experience for many this year.

There is talk of beginning vaccinations in January. The first to get the new shot would be those who are most at risk; healthcare workers and the elderly living in residences, which have been the hardest hit. I suppose the list would then continue on to the rest of those above a certain age, then those with chronic illnesses of all ages, and, at the end, the healthy. So, probably not until the last half of the year will there be any semblance of past normality. And, even then, it will depend on how many anti-vaxxers cling to their "right" to shun the vaccine. 

Today is the Day of Violence Against Women. There won't be any marches this year, just a few concentrations with many fewer people, to maintain social distance. It's disheartening to hear, still, of so many instances in which young people consider it normal to control or use women, even to the point of physically abusing them. With the passing decades, it has become more anathema, but not enough. Too many jokes make the rounds out there, too many songs, new and old, that submit women into objects. Many have woken up, but it's an ongoing battle that won't end for generations yet to come.

Another problem that has almost been forgotten, but is still there, is the people setting off from northern Africa to Europe on precarious boats. On one of the Canary Islands this month, thousands have arrived. Many are Moroccan, looking for work because the pandemic destroyed jobs in Morocco, as well. The two governments are already talking about repatriating many of them. But the boats are still setting off across the Mediterranean from Libya, too, and too many migrants on them are still dying in shipwrecks. 

In October, a shipwreck caused five people to drown, including a two-year old girl, and fifteen survivors were taken to a center in Sicily. A few weeks afterward, a rescue boat came across some flotsam from the wreck, and took it out of the water. Among the objects was a rucksack with clothes and two wedding rings, engraved with the names Ahmed and Doudou.

Fearing they belonged to victims, the NGO Open Arms still published photos of the rings, to see if they could be returned to family members, at least. This time, the belongings will go back to the people who lost them. Ahmed and Doudou were among the fifteen survivors in Sicily. They are young, in their early twenties, and newlywed. The rings had broken, and the couple had put them in the rucksack to have them fixed once in Europe. They had thought they had lost them forever. Unfortunately, though, the amount of belongings picked up that have no happy ending, are too high. And the crossings won't stop, no matter how difficult European countries try to make it. The misery and horror so many are escaping are simply too overwhelming. This pandemic has added even more to what so many are suffering.

Normality? It's never existed.

Life continues.