Friday, June 26, 2020

The Covid 13.1

The cancelled holidays, plans, family time, swimming, just about everything - it all sucks. The rescheduled concerts are particularly annoying because they will be pushed back to the following year. It is hard to remember who bought the tickets, which friends were going, sometimes the show gets downgraded from a weekend to a school night, and hell, some bands could break up or die in a year! Also, they only guarantee the appearance of the headliner, and sometimes I bought the tickets more because I like one or two of the opening acts. 

I also had like 3 running races cancelled this summer. This is why some friends and I organized our own race in a trail in a suburban forest preserve where we all plan on wearing shirts and bibs from cancelled races. The race is tomorrow, and I will somehow have to run 13.1 miles with very little training. We got a pretty decent turnout and we are raising money for a local children's hospital. 

Got my stuff laid out like a dork. Only running dorks do this.
Hey, I'm now going to get "political" with no segue whatsoever: I had some thoughts about when people seem to freak out and get all defensive about Black Lives Matter and start in with the "all lives matter" crappola. I mean, the obvious explanation is probably that they're just racist, or probably more accurately, they are racist and do not know they are racist. Because why get so mad and defensive? Because here is the what occurred to me today: For years and years the country was way too racist, such as hanging black people from trees, blasting them with fire hoses, making them use separate bathrooms and other facilities, basically dehumanizing them. So, years and years later out of a response to police officers killing black people, we are now saying Black Lives Matter and some white people get mad about that and say, "Not everything is about race!" But here is what I'm saying, if we spent hundreds of years being way too racist, is there really any harm in perhaps being a extremely racially conscious for a little while, and what is the harm in doing so? I think the people who take offense to BLM are likely the same who take offense to having to wear masks in public places. I'm positive there is a correlation. 

Just my opinion and merely theories. I don't claim to know everything. I welcome discussions in the comments, and I'm not a psycho who yells and swears at anyone when they disagree. Or if you want to stay out of the race topic, just comment on (running) races or concerts or whatever from earlier in the post. Or comment on something completely separate from all this stuff. Wish me luck in my race tomorrow morning and do a dance so it doesn't rain on me.

4 comments:

Mr. Shife said...

Ok. Settle down, Karen. =)
I must admit I did need some education about BLM because I was in the ALM camp.
It makes lots of sense to me now and I hope this is the start of something good but it is hard to see that because we are in 2020, where everything sucks.
Good luck with the race.

PipeTobacco said...

Good luck on your 1/2 Marathon! I am a relatively new runner myself (and an old codger to boot). In 2019, I made a vow to run at least 1 10K every week. This year, I made a vow to run one 1/2 Marathon a month during 2020. So far I have been successful with this year’s goal, having ran my June one last week. I am averaging about 40 miles a week this year.

I found you via BBC’s blog.

PipeTobacco

LL Cool Joe said...

Good luck with the marathon.

I do not understand why people take offense to wearing a mask. If it keeps people safe, what's the problem?

I wrote my views about BLM recently.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...

Shife: Thanks. The race was awful. It was hot as hell and the guy I was running with was too fast for me, so I ended up walking two miles and feeling old and crappy about myself, so I drank too much that night. Again with the drinking!!

Pipe: My god you are putting in a lot of miles! I get a few in when I opt to pick up my kids from daycare in the running stroller. That's awesome that you're sticking to that goal.

LL: I can't figure out why people take offense to lots of things, but I suspect that most people are crazy. I think because I live in a big city people are liberal, but the nuts are out there in the burbs, man.