Renowned author and political commentator Dr Naomi Wolf’s recent essay “A Lost Small Town” (linked below) has struck a nerve with me. Many of her observations have been on my mind as of late, yet respectfully my conclusions take a different tack.
In full disclosure, as I live one town over from the author, personally I know the places and people described in the essay, yet as Dr. Wolf suggests, Millerton really could be Anywhere USA. The trauma inflicted on the community in that town has played out in so many other towns and cities across this country. Slowly relationships are healing, yet memories stretch long. The tradesman messages you warmly offering his discounted services, yet you remember several months ago when he indignantly demanded that you vacate your own home for him to work on it since you had no vaxport. The grocer smilingly welcomes you to his store, yet you remember when he recoiled to the rail trail’s far end and pulled his shirt collar over his face as you approached, presuming you a walking germ bag.
Dr. Wolf may forgive the neighbors who wronged her, but conscience dictates against it. Forgiveness offered to the uncontrite heart has no value, either to forgiver or recipient. You can’t pardon someone for “wrongdoing” if that person fervently believes that he was doing right. For relationships strained by or during the Covidian regime, this is especially pertinent because there WILL BE another pandemic in our lifetimes (redounding to the benefit of the Klaus Schwaub mob). If some neighbors – those with whom we choose to cohabitate, recreate and transact – shun us at first sign of trouble, they need to embrace the consequence of us bypassing them for every future decision we make about recreation and other transactions. Let the unsympathetic storefront proudly display its sign announcing foreclosure as fleets of delivery trucks course through town, distributing wares and foodstuffs ordered from the bowels of online warehouses!
