Brighten the Corner Where You Are

It would seem from daily evidence that Donald Trump is superfluous to any true fight against Coronavirus.

If only this were true. But he is the virus's ally in so many ways, from spreading misinformation to creating false hope for miracle drugs to actively preventing the full force of American industry to be put into play by his unexplained obstinate hesitancy – refusal? – to actually use the Defense Production Act. States are now bidding against each other for vital, life-saving medical supplies and equipment. This is the end result of the terror capitalism that has left America almost unable to defend itself in any meaningful way against Coronavirus.

Trump says he is “the war president.” On whose side?

There is a strong movement afoot to call on the cable networks – minus Fox, of course – to cease televising the daily sham of press briefings. They serve no purpose other than to cloud reality and frighten anyone with more than a tenuous hold on that same reality. By the same token, they are a daily reminder that we essentially have a criminal and potential mass murderer as president. That said, we've seen enough. Stop showing these grotesqueries.

“Brighten the corner where you are” is from an old hymn and is a fitting rejoinder for where we find ourselves. As we go about our now-limited daily lives, whether to scurry in and out of  a supermarket or pharmacy or take-out food purveyor, be fully cognizant of the people that are there, putting it on the line on a minute-to-minute basis. Thank them. They are brightening their corners under the most dire circumstances. Hell, tip them. And send every good vibe you can muster to the hundreds of thousands of health care workers who are doing almost unimaginable works of true heroism. They are brightening the most dark corners, despite a criminal lack of equipment from the government and president who leads that criminality by reading imaginary numbers of non-existent medical supplies that he says are even now speeding to where they are most needed. The term “magical thinking” is too soft and kind for what are obviously terrible delusions, murderous delusions. There is not a corner of Donald Trump's mind that does not need brightening, but that is true magical thinking, a psychic impossibility.

Use social media as it was intended so long ago to brighten your and others' corners; contact those you know and love and miss and tell them just that. A little love can go a very long way; a lot of love is a treasure we can all share.

Read. My ex-wife Suze scolds me for watching Trump's pressers. She thinks they are bad for my mental health. She is probably right. On the other hand, after the latest sham, I picked up “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” and immersed myself in the long poem of love and compassion that the book is and cleansed myself with the balm of James Agee's words. 

There is one particular Walker Evans photo in that book I return to time and again: a woman and a small child – part of a Depression family in Appalachia – walking toward their ramshackle living quarters. The woman is in mid-stride, seen from the back, her left hand aflutter in the air in a gesture that captures the essence of femininity and motherhood.

It is an eternal bright moment.