Observations from America

We just came back from our annual Spring visit to see our grandson in Ohio. Some thoughts on what’s changed, what hasn’t, or just what I noticed, in no particular order.

• Covid is done. Over. No mas as we say. Yes, it is still circulating, and there will be more variants, and some people will need more boosters, and others will get sick and may even die. But the heavy weight that was the pandemic is lifting. We didn’t see a mask after we left the airport. They are not required in Ohio; although businesses may require them, they don’t. Covid is becoming an endemic disease not as defined by the medical community, but in the res publica, the community. People have decided to move on. It would take something truly shocking to change that direction, and a CDC announcement won’t do it.
• People are a little friendlier. With masks gone, and with limited human contact for so long, people seem just a little more open to a “good-day” or a “hello.” I’m not talking a habitual “buenos dias” here, but still, it’s noticeably friendlier. However . . .
• There are still many people on the edge of losing it. As in becoming violent for little or no reason. I did not see such things, but the news and social media are full of stories. Road rage, kids bringing guns to school, attacks on flight attendants, hey even let’s slap-the-crap-out-of-Chris Rock on national television. It may be years before all this suppressed anger works its way out of the body civil and politic.
• Inflation is real, it is increasing, it is a problem, everyone is talking about it, and the administration has no idea what to do about it. On past visits, everybody was talking about Covid; now it’s prices. And all the government and political talking heads are saying is gibberish about who is to blame. It bears repeating that government at all levels has difficulty dealing with inflation, but it’s not like the US (and other countries) have never experienced it before. It won’t get better for a long time, because nothing is being done.
• I know change is a constant, but sometimes it hits you when you least expect it. We flew to Chicago (tip for lakeside expats: Delta/AeroMexico have non-stops to/from O’Hare!) and drove to Cincinnati. As we left the Chicago suburbs in neighboring Indiana, I told my dear wife we would be driving on I-65, a rural interstate highway to Indianapolis, so traffic would be much better. I knew this because I went to high school in the area, and even took part of my driver’s test on that interstate. But that was forty-six years ago and I had no idea how far the sprawl had spread, and how much traffic there was now on that road. And we passed through an immense Windmill farm, too. I’m talking hundreds of the giant creatures, silently spinning over the corn-and-soy fields of Indy. Wow. Meadow Lake windmill farm, over 400 turbines!

• Speaking of green energy and climate change, I have this story to relate. As we walked and talked about the suddenly cold weather one day, my fifth-grade grandson blurted out, “we’re doing such a terrible job with the environment, the world’s going to end in ten years.” Now, he’s a bright kid, and what he said bore no trace of hyperbole, sarcasm, or irony. He doesn’t watch any TV (except sports) and has limited screen time, which he mostly uses on games or programming (no social media). So I asked him where he heard that; he explained they “spent a bunch of time on it in school.” Just a fact, as he had been taught. Whatever your feelings about climate change, the notion all we have is ten years is a ridiculous assertion, and certainly not appropriate for middle-schoolers. It’s an exaggeration based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stating we have ten years before we hit another (bad) milestone in the warming of the planet. And we wonder why childhood depression and suicide rates are rising.
• Political advertising seems to keep finding new lows. There are party primaries approaching in Ohio, and the attack ads are flying full of vitriol. “Liar” is a common descriptor, and I believe I heard at least one “coward.” “Shameful” was frequently invoked, and I agreed, much of the work was shameful.
• Traffic at airports and on planes has almost recovered. We saw few empty seats and long lines at the airport concessions. We also saw a lot of infrastructure work going on, perhaps related to the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden. Long overdue, and welcome even if it causes some congestion and delays.

Glad to be back from the variable highs and lows of Cincinnati to the sunshine and steady warmth of Ajijic. Here’s hoping that the mask mandate is gone before our next trip in May!