Cultural shocks; interpersonal sweetness. Which is more real?

Another winter storm two nights ago, with this time, about five inches, which turned icy yesterday. Tried to walk puppy Scampi at around 8 AM, but he balked, decided 10° was too cold, and salt on roads kept getting into his paws.

So I took him home and started out by myself, to Aldi’s, going out of my way to get a good walk in before I got there. Part of the journey was the usual thrill, for me, feeling my 82-year-old body respond so wonderfully to the rhythms of  life-long daily fast walks. At least on those surfaces that were not icy. When possible, I chose to walk on quiet, cleared roads, rather than on sidewalks, many of which remain unshoveled. Which made me wonder, are the houses that don’t shovel their walks rentals?

On the homestretch to Aldi’s, I found myself on a block-long unshoveled sidewalk only two feet wide and bordering very busy 3RD Street (St Rte 46). On the other side of a chain link fence that cut off half the sidewalk loomed the tall walls of a ghastly dark building under construction  — another car wash! I read somewhere that they are all the rage right now with investors. Lots of profit, very little maintenance, and no need for workers. Who can beat that? Gross.

So there I was, slowly and carefully stomping my way over the narrow icy portion of the unshoveled walk that the chain link fence did provide, cars, pickups and giant 18-wheelers whizzing by, within inches. Had I fallen, and part of me land outside the narrow space I was trying to walk on, it would have been all over.

Which brought to mind, once again, how I am protected. Over and over again, all my life; no matter how foolish my choices — and today, yes, it would have been wise to go the other way, make a long detour to Aldi’s rather than take my chances on that one scary block — yes; it’s as if I walk inside a soft, loving cushion.

Meanwhile, one motorist, who had not bothered to clear the right side of either her front window, or her side front window, nearly ran me over as she was turning right at a crossroads with me there and about to cross the street in front of her. Luckily, I noticed the condition of her windows, and knew she would not stop.

I notice, these days, that just about just about everybody seems, not just distracted, but at least mildly frantic.

Yet, in the midst of constant culture shocks that we are all undergoing, as federal fraud, waste and corruption get exposed in the glaring light of DOGE, drying up all sorts of grants to DEI nonsense, to states and localities, academia, hospitals, etc., putting thousands upon thousands out of work and desperate, I notice that a bunch of Bloomingtonians are getting together next Sunday to go over new bills before the Indiana state legislature. 3-5 PM at the Unitarian Universalist church. I’ll be there.

I notice that the event is being put on by prominent Democrats. Of course. Bloomington is an academic town, dominated by Democrats.

I used to be a Democrat.

In the wake of the last four puzzling years, who still calls him or herself a Democrat?

What will I call myself at this meeting. Will I come out? Or will I maintain my usual secret judgmental silence. It will be an interesting experience.

Not that I’m now a Republican. But I do very much appreciate the DJT blitzkrieg.

Back to this morning: at Aldi’s, as I was walking up and down the aisles, I couldn’t help but notice that the shelves were  full as usual; that, obviously, supply chains haven’t (yet?) been affected by Trump’s blitzkrieg. Blew me away, actually, how resilient the overall system is. Or, well, kinda. For example, have you noticed that searches for criminal attorneys are way way up in the DC area? And this, just today:

At Aldi’s, when done shopping, I remembered that I only had cash with me, so could not check myself out. Oops! Casting about (only three workers are on shift at any point during an Aldi day), I found an Aldi worker unpacking boxes, who said she’d stop to check me out. As I was pushing my cart to her check out station with my few, carefully chosen, non-seed oil, unprocessed items, an old bearded man, with his cart full to the brim of processed stuff, suddenly appeared, going in the same direction, ahead of me. I went “Oops!” interrupting my flow; he noticed me; graciously indicated for me to go first.

Then, my transaction complete, I turned and thanked him again for allowing me to go ahead. “Just a random act of kindness,” he responded, with a shy grin.

“Thank you again!  I’ll pay it forward.”

Grateful for the kind encounter, I walked out, shouldering newly heavy backpack that would help ground and stabilize me on the ice, and proceeded to continue on my exceedingly dangerous walk home.