Keep On Playing!

The above music was played in the Stephen King movie "The Stand", and I'm not sure how many of you are Stephen King junkies like I am, but if you are not, then I will give you a brief explanation. The Stand, is a story about good and evil, and about how a deadly virus escapes from a lab and begins infecting people all over the United States, and the panic and survival that ensues. I won't tell the rest of the story because it's a good read and may be something to read now, while we are all still quarantined.

I hear the words in the song and I can relate it to the pandemic going on now. Isolation, fear, wondering if the world will ever be the same again and if we will ever be able to go about our lives in a normal manner. Will it ever be over, really over, or is this something that is going to keep haunting us until we either all succumb to it or we find a vaccine that will cure it. The words in the song, "Don't dream it's over" make me think about dreaming of a better day, not a future where normalcy is over.

I have good friends on opposite sides of the issue, some thinking mask wearing is unnecessary, and that this is all a hoax, while the other side abides by all rules and tries to get others to do so as well. I can't chose either side since I really don't know the answer to what is right or wrong in these times. Once again, the words in the song resonate through my mind, "There's a battle ahead", and yes, I firmly believe we have a battle ahead of us. The virus is a battle in itself, and then there is the division of people and beliefs in this country and others. "They come, they come, to build a wall between us, they know that they won't win," The "they" referred to in this music is a political battle between republicans and democrats in my own mind because building a wall between people, people's beliefs, race and police, and all of it seems to coincide with what is happening with the pandemic. Nobody ever wins a negative fight like is going on in this country right now.

In another chorus of this song, the words say, "In the paper today, tales of war and waste, but you turn right over to the t.v. page", reminds me that as Americans we have become lazy and tolerant. We hate what is going on in the country, the riots about black lives, the police being murdered, innocent people being shot by police, and then there is all the political unrest that goes on daily. but we do nothing to unite as Americans and say, enough is enough and we have had enough. It is easier to turn on the television and get comfortable on the sofa, and then complain on social media. Don't complain, but be part of the solution. That's what the song says to me, although I believe it is a song about something unrelated, to me it will always bring back memories of the movie, The Stand, and will always make me think about these times and how different things are now.

Temporarily Closed, or so the sign says, but how can we be sure how temporary this is? Upon trying to reopen and enjoying some beach time in many cities, the pandemic is once again raging in many states, and it was originally forecast to be about gone by August. There is a battle ahead if we ever want our world back the way it was. And, the battle begins within each one of us. The music has kept me focused on what is going on in the bigger picture, how closely these times remind me of the movie where it boils down to good and evil. Perhaps that is what it will boil down to now, I can't be sure, but often it feels that way.