Self portrait in my Salvation Army garb on break from my bell ringing duties.
[This post has been edited about 32 times in the past two months. ]
“Thank you for being here.” I kept being told. It touched me. It was quite a trek to arrive in front of Oleson’s East grocery store in East Bay Township of Traverse City. That grocery store is across the street from the Township Hall where I was Supervisor for twelve years (80-92). We built that new hall and put a district library branch in the old one in the late 80s. So it was like a big 30 year circle, participating as an elected official, then getting into private business, going to China ten years later, politics to real estate, then technology, then teaching in China, back and forth to the USA. I made up my mind to live in China, a semi-retired condition, blogging and tutoring the kids . It was a little later the pandemic hit, and I got kicked out of China. I also lost the room I had been renting for ten years due to pandemic fears. I came close to homeless 3 days before arrival “home”. I ended up staying in a vacant office, landing on the 24th of October. I am safe for now. Honestly, is anybody totally safe in the pandemic? I have been ringing the Salvation Army bell, raising money for them and myself ($10/hr.) at the same time.
More details of my experience with the COVID and China can be found at:
China COVID Memories
It was Tuesday, October 27 and I was newly back in the USA. China had ejected me abruptly and the hasty garage sale was over (see Garage Sale) It was almost a complete loss to me. Literally thousands of RMB (Chinese Dollars) were left in Guiyang in the apartment that I abandoned. The “garage sale” wasn’t successful. In fact, Guiyang People are still very cautious about moving around the city. Mainly, they don’t like to travel, but also they are afraid of getting out in public during a virus period. Even though Guizhou Province hasn’t recorded a locally transmitted virus since late March, everybody is still on their guard. People just don’t want to mix with strangers. Statistics, flawed as they may be, still indicate that COVID 19 is a threat to China, despite it’s success in containment.
I found the culture in my home town (Traverse City, MI) to be very weird. It is almost as if people have given up. Just in the last six weeks, more masks have appeared. People seem to appreciate the danger more now, but still too many people take too many risks. Perhaps they are just resigned to the danger and just hope they survive. There was too much bad information early in the pandemic. An established culture is hard to change. Perhaps the Trump plan could still work out in the next four weeks, but I think we need a change in culture.
It seems such a shame because the mask is so easy to wear. I understand that rather than being scared all the time, some Americans have the attitude almost like “I can handle this and I’ll take my chances.” Our Governor closed restaurants and bars, but kept the gyms open. Yesterday morning I went to a health club. Since most customers are young, they do not seem to worry (except maybe me). I may be a bit foolish, but I kept the mask on, went early, and tried to maintain social distancing. . The pandemic was accelerating as of 11/17/2020. The restaurants and bars were closed. You could eat outdoors, but it was freezing most of the day. J&S Hamburger opened a tent and I was able to get my first real hamburger since being back in the States. In the tent it was breezy. I felt that between the wind and my Chinese N95 type mask, I felt relatively safe.
In Guiyang I moved around the city during a peak infection, but kept my sense and awareness. I didn’t catch anything. Here in the USA I study this culture and feel that promoting the discussion virus seems important. I try to see how this has gotten so out of hand. From what I have seen, it looks like the tourists and young people are driving this pandemic at this point. The tourists have pandemic fatigue, and this Trump led anti-mask culture has been major. Hopefully Biden messaging can help reverse this cultural direction. Trump seems so foolish to me, but people still seem to follow him . . . especially the Republicans.
My Russian friend describes something similar us in Russia. Mask rules are all around, but many are exposing the nose, maybe obeying the rules, but really missing the point of filtering the air. It is an obstinance of not obeying the government because you don’t trust them. Perhaps you don’t like them. I suspect that a very significant part of this outbreak is driven by mistrust of the government and people disobeying even the simplest rules . . . just because they disagree. Maybe this applies to Russia and the USA.
Culture is so important. In China there was a very pro-government tone to everything. It was China against the evil virus. Culture is very different in the USA. I was wearing my USA Flag T-shirt and an open jacket in the grocery store and the check-out lady went off on me. She talked about about how great Trump was and how patriotic we should all be. So I didn’t pick up on it, but Trump doesn’t wear a mask most of the time. I think that much of the potential of universal mask wearing is lost because it isn’t considered patriotic. So there are billions of virus particles circulating from those that refuse to wear masks. As the Chinese say, one small mouse turd can ruin the soup. (kind of like one rotten apple). If one person doesn’t wear a mask and he happens to be a super spreader, that is the result.
A simple example of how culture influences other people hit me in late February in Guiyang. I was shopping for veggies in the local market and I picked up a tomato to put it in the plastic bag. Now I had been wearing a mask religiously for almost a month. I couldn’t get the plastic bag open because my fingers were too dry. I looked both ways and then pulled my mask down. I then touched my finger to my tongue. Then I could open the bag easily, but I immediately thought, “Oh my God! Am I gonna die now?” I had contaminated my tongue. Everybody was saying “Wear the mask. Wear the mask. Wear the mask.” It is the peer group pressure and the culture of the place that was the bigger factor, not the logic of trying to avoid the virus. I looked around and when nobody was looking, When I thought the peer group wasn’t looking, I did the unthinkable. The power of the peer group (when it wasn’t watching) was more powerful than the simple logic of wanting to stay alive. The Republican peer group pressure has indeed been powerful in the USA, overwhelming the logic of protecting each other with by wearing masks.
In my opinion, we need to change the culture in the USA. It isn’t about government leaders or policies so much as generating a positive culture. We all have the ability to change our culture every day. Don’t put that on the “politicians”. So perhaps the key to survival is a positive relationship, teamwork if you will, between each other and with our respective governments. Just be nice and supportive and it will change a culture. We all have that power, whether Chinese or American, or the world for that matter.
###### 12//20/2020
[ THE PRIOR PARAGRAPHS WERE LARGELY WRITTEN IN THE SIX WEEKS AFTER OCTOBER 29, 2020 ]
So that was the post from a month ago. As of today, the Sunday before Christmas, not so much has changed. The “third wave” is real and more people believe it now. I am bell ringing for the Salvation Army now. I just learned that my good college friend (70 year old Ken) has COVID. After two weeks of almost constant pain and bed time, he seems to have turned the corner. Hopefully his “after virus” ailments will be minimal.
It seems impossible to get into a discussion with an American about the election and the two political parties. Somebody almost always interrupts you or disagrees with you, often in a hostile way and sometimes aggressively. Most people simply tune out after 30 seconds and say “I don’t want to talk about this”. It just proves to me how successfully foreign governments and malice domestic have taken their toll on the American Spirit. It seems certain to me that when you have the country divided into roughly thirds: Dem, Rep, and Indy, that nothing good can happen. Democracy depends on consensus of representatives to secure legislation and respect for the executive authority in administration of the law. This process of government has been in force for well over 200 years in the USA, and it is enforced by the authority of our court system. I see a much different culture (in both parties) today. In several respects the people in the two major political parties are almost identical. . .
THEY expect you to agree with THEM on all points or you are against THEM.
THEY are so sick of this subject THEY don’t want to discuss it.
THEY all agree it is somebody else’s responsibility for the troubles.
THEY don’t see the necessity of any change in their own behavior or attitudes.
THEY think somebody could get us back to “normal” if they just did the right thing.
THEY don’t see our future as dependent on a successful political system (POLITICS).
THEY don’t value good deeds or behavior in themselves but expect both from others.
So in answer to the friends that are worried about how I am doing, I can offer you the following: I have a little part time work as a Salvation Army Bell Ringer; have temporary housing; I wear a mask whenever I am near people; and I am probably OK. I seem to be suffering from some kind of reverse culture shock. It is either that, or I landed in some weird parallel universe and I haven’t found the portal door (rabbit hole) that I came through to get here. . .
I often think about my life in China and how much I enjoyed the people, scenery and the rich experiences. Of course I don’t want to stay where I am not wanted and even though I have four years left on my ten year visa, I was required to leave China. As an American I wasn’t allowed to cross the border anymore. This happened not long after Chinese students and many Chinese Nationals, with visas, were told they were no longer welcome in the USA. Perhaps there is a connection. I don’t blame them. I have been working with Chinese, for close to thirty years and have no ill feelings toward them or their culture. I have learned a lot. So I thought that living in China for fifteen years and working with their students and their projects might protect me a bit from the ill will that was building between China and the USA. For many years the two governments believed that working together was the key to prosperity for both countries. I helped the Oakland University China initiatives from the nineties onward. I visited China as a volunteer teacher in 2000. Oakland University’s Summer Institute has existed for 30 years and over that time they have probably trained 3000 middle school teachers in English. I crossed the Chinese border a good fifty times over the ensuing 20 years. These contacts share culture, friendship, and promote peace. I published a blog about some of those experiences at www.tourguizhou.com. I hope the respective governments can find a way to work together in the future. What is happening now isn’t particularly helpful in my opinion.
It all starts and ends through the governments and I hope our leaders will be wise enough to restore conditions for sharing culture, working, and playing together in the future. If we learn to work and play together, sharing culture along the way, maybe we won’t have to fight each other like so many other countries with ambitious leadership.
When Nixon and Mao met to set up this cooperation, it was reported that Nixon said to Mao that “Our countries aren’t getting along right now”. Mao was reported to have replied, “No. You and I aren’t getting along and our people are suffering.” I am starting a blog called “www.jaxteaparty.org” and I plan to work on this ambitious government problem in the USA. Maybe people and donors will come forward to help. My friends aren’t optimistic. I am a bit pumped up by the people who came up to me to put money in my SA Kettle. A lot of people said the same thing that one of my first donors said . . . “Thank you for being here.” Frankly, at nearly 70 years old, I am happy to be anywhere right now.
I had other options rather than coming back to the USA. Many people have asked me why I didn’t just go to a tropical climate to kick back, where COVID is controlled, — the small tropical islands, or someplace in Southern Asia. No matter where you live, you consume the world’s resources. This is an important time in the USA. I had to come back. I am just not ready to stop contributing and not be productive. I like writing and teaching.
Why Teaching? Because its fun.
I’m afraid that my teaching days are over. We have a real bad problem in this world. Because I am deemed old, my work isn’t valued. Perhaps all that is left of my teaching is some writing. There are a lot of us old people that have a lot to give, and this resource is being wasted.
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